Upon first glance, the grid-based abstractions of Max Cole might seem mathematically conceived and systematically executed, but upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that the horizontal bands of varying shapes, textures, and patterns were applied directly by the artist's hand through a labor-intensive process where all formal decisions are intuitive and of the moment. Born in Hodgeman County, Kansas, in 1937, Cole spent her childhood in the American southwest after her family relocated to Colorado in 1939. She cites the geological spareness and expansive horizons of the landscape as the genesis of her horizontal field paintings and drawings, rather than purely formalist preoccupations. Rendered in acrylic paint or ink, these works are composed entirely of horizontal lines dragged across the surface of her canvases through a repetitious, almost meditative process. To create her works, Cole withdraws to her studio, preferring to work in isolation for intense, extended periods of time, in a partial effort to diminish the infringement of the ego into her work. While Cole's early work is largely monochromatic, relying solely on blacks, whites, and shades of grey, in the 1990s she gradually began to reintroduce color to her painted surfaces. While Cole is frequently mentioned in conjunction with other concrete abstractionists such as Agnes Martin (1912–2004), her "fields of horizontal lines and vertical articulation"[1] are informed more by her personal philosophies and lived experiences than by art historical precedent.

Cole first studied painting formally at Ft. Hays State University, Kansas, graduating in 1960. She earned her M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Arizona in 1964, and taught at various colleges and universities in Southern California between 1967 and 1978. In 1978 she moved to New York to focus exclusively on her painting. In addition to other acknowledgments and awards, Cole received a Visual Artist's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1983 and an Artist's Support Fellowship from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 1986. Cole's work has been exhibited at such institutions as Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin; Haines Gallery, San Francisco; Museum Gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany; Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, New Mexico; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India; Galerie Kunstraum Kassel, Germany; Sidney Janis Gallery, New York; and many others. Cole currently lives and works in the Sierra Madre foothills region of Northern California.

CEJ

[1] Maddalena Magni et al., "Dialogue with Max Cole," in Max Cole (Milan: Charta, 2000), 9.