MAX FREUND
MaxFreund_Portrait Bildcredits: (c) Susanna Hofer
In MEET THE ARTIST, we are proud to present some of the artists, whose studios could be discovered during the Open Studio Days of VIENNA ART WEEK. Today, we’ll introduce you to Max Freund.
Max Freund lives and works in Vienna. He studied with Judith Eisler from 2011 to 2017 at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In addition to international exhibition activity, he works with the micro-publishing house Soybot on art books, editions, and fanzines focusing on risograph printing. His large, colorful works can be admired in his studio at the Viennese WUK.
Studio at the Viennese WUK (c) Max Freund
How do you describe what you do to someone who doesn’t know your art at all?
Max Freund: My work rotates between drawing, painting, and interest in printing techniques. Representations become pictograms, various materials and painting backgrounds such as towels, clothing, synthetic fibers, plastic sheeting, bed covers, etc. function as hieroglyphs of our time that should translate back from the current era that lacks emotion into a physically experienceable world.
What should a city offer as a place to live and work?
Not too much control.
The beginning is always the hardest. How do you start a new work?
I usually start a new work with a drawing.
Max Freund. (c) Christoph Schlessmann
How or where do you find inspiration?
In books, discussions, the Internet, Vienna’s houses, 1 € shops, dumpsters and
abandoned places.
What inspires you in Vienna? Which museums, exhibition halls, galleries, etc. do you visit frequently?
Vienna’s numerous alleys and ornamented houses, cafes, and pubs, the Danube Island, the outskirts of Vienna, the surrounding nature, and my favorite museum, the Mumok.
Do you have a personal work ritual that you like to follow?
Have fun, experiment, misuse materials.
(c) Max Freund
If you would not work as an artist, what would you do?
Carpenter, patinator, printing technician
What are the best moments in your job and which are the most difficult?
To have time and to be free with all thoughts in the artistic work. Accepting and positioning elaborate art as a necessity for myself and for society.
What is your dream project that you have not yet implemented?
To design huge, colorful sculptures in nature.
max.freund@gmx.at
Instagram @maxfreund1
