When you hear the name Peter Max, you think of the '60s and the colorful art he created that helped define a generation. On the eve of the 49th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, we thought we would catch up with Max for some nostalgia. Following are edited excerpts from a longer conversation.
Jim Clash: Of the rock icons you've met, who was your favorite?
Peter Max: That’s a hard question to answer as I've met and painted so many musicians with amazing talent and charisma. It was a special thrill to meet, paint and hang out with Ringo Starr. I painted a series of portraits of Ringo to celebrate his birthday one year. I also painted a Baldwin piano for him benefitting one of his charities, MusiCares, which helps musicians in times of need. I painted a second piano for my studio, and Ringo visited and signed it with my paintbrush, 'To Peter, With Love, Ringo.' I love that piano. Sometimes my studio guests will play it, and I'll play it too, improvising along while listening to some of my favorite songs.
I've also painted for many of the legendary Woodstock artists over the years - album covers, tour posters or portraits for my friend Levon Helm and The Band, The Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Jimi Hendrix. On the 20th Anniversary of Woodstock, I created the huge stage banner art and posters for the Moscow Music Peace Festival, known as the 'Russian Woodstock.' And then on the 30th Anniversary of Woodstock, I created the 500 x 80-foot stage banner art and posters of it for Woodstock '99.
I love so many different types of music--hard rock, bebop, jazz fusion, R&B. And I've loved meeting and painting so many amazing artists like Lionel Richie, Ronnie Wood, Sia, Steven Tyler, Swizz Beatz, Taylor Swift, James Moody, The Fifth Dimension, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Michael Jackson. It makes me smile thinking about each one of them.
I put on my favorite music in my studio and paint. I pick up the brush, pick a color, put color on the canvas, answer it with another color and another, like musical improvisation. Suddenly, I have a painting. I know colors like some people know a melody. And the tunes of my favorite musicians energizes me when I work.
Clash: What were Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin like as people and performers?
Max: I met Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin when I hung out with Michael Lang just before the Woodstock Festival. They were as charismatic in person as they were on stage. You don't get to turn off that kind of energy.
I was at Michael’s place once when he was planning the lineup for the Festival and he was on the phone. He saw me and cupped his hand over the phone and quietly said, “I've got Janis Joplin on the phone. What should I tell her?" I said, “Tell her that you love her.” Just before the Festival I met Janis and told her, “You’re my favorite blues singer since Billie Holiday." She said, “Wow, I love you. Billie Holiday is my favorite."
When I first met Jimi Hendrix I told him that I wore out my Electric Ladyland album, and asked him jokingly if he had another one on him. He laughed and said, “No, not on me, man.” So I said, “Well here’s a gift from me.” I pulled my 'Different Drummer' poster from a tube, and signed it 'To Jimi with love.' He loved it and gave me a hug.
I remember Michael Lang talking about Roy Rogers possibly closing out Woodstock with 'Happy Trails,' the generation had all grown up with him. But Jimi closed Woodstock amazingly, with his jaw-dropping performance of "The Star Spangled Banner." It just moved and resonated through you, capturing so many of the emotions of the time.
Clash: What's your best memory of Woodstock?
Max: My best memory of Woodstock was when Michael Lang asked me who I thought should open the Festival. I answered without hesitation, “My Swami, Swami Satchidananda." I truly believe that the Swami's words set the tone for that generational event when he said, "Through the music, we can work wonders...The entire world is going to watch this. The entire world is going to know that what the American youth can do to humanity."
Swami Satchidananda is now known as “The Woodstock Guru.” I brought him to America in 1966 and we founded the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City together. It's now the largest yoga institute in the world with centers on six continents. He also founded the Yogaville Ashram, a spiritual and yoga oasis. He wasn't the first yoga master to come to America but with his opening words at Woodstock and the creation of the Integral Yoga Institute, he helped modern yoga take firm roots here, and introduced it to thousands, if not millions of people here in the U.S. I don't have a bad memory of Woodstock, not even the mud.
Woodstock, the town, had become an artist colony during the sixties. Musicians, writers and artists would drive up from the city for retreat, to work, to record, to paint. It was a lush and beautiful rural place with farms and fresh air. My friend Albert Grossman, the great folk music manager, who managed Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Band and Peter, Paul and Mary opened the legendary recording studio nearby - Bearsville Studios. So many amazing albums and songs were recorded there. He also opened the restaurant The Bear Cafe a few years after the festival. We would all eat and talk at The Bear Cafe and at the Joyous Lake, a great music venue that opened after Woodstock, too. The town became an artist and musicians haven after the Festival.
Clash: What are you doing now?
Max: I have an exhibition on right now of my early works at The Museum at Bethel Woods, right on the site of the Woodstock Festival. It's an amazing arts space - with wonderful exhibitions, history of the Woodstock generation and great live music shows at their outdoor concert pavilion. The memories of Woodstock and the era are preserved at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts right on that historic hill.
I'm always painting, drawing and creating new graphics and seeing my friends and fans at my gallery shows. New projects come in all of the time. Right now I'm working on a couple of surprise projects for 2019. I'm so blessed that I can live and do what I love and share it with people in so many different forms.
