“Max Reinhard’s work evokes dream-like imagery & fantastical themes to create an ethereal and unsettling visual narrative. He often uses a mixed media approach, alternating between acrylic paints, gouache, pastel, colored pencil, collage, and digital art. Capturing mood through use of color is paramount to his practice. Reinhard uses dreams as the primary inspiration for his current body of work, Dreamscapes. As someone who has always had very vivid and intricate dreams, he aims to express the intense feelings that come up, such as disembodiment, confusion, anxiety, wonder, and horror. Many of his paintings include recurring themes and visual elements from his dreams, such as swarms of insects. Other paintings are more symbolic than literal, aiming to capture a feeling within a dream rather than the content of the dream itself.
While the process can change quite a bit from one piece to the next, a physical connection with the materials is crucial; even for pieces that are digitally colored or enhanced. As dreams are ethereal and leave no trace, the tactile nature of paints, pencils, and paper is a critical part of the ritual and catharsis.
For Reinhard’s latest piece, Dreamscape II, the artist layered graphite, acrylic ink, and white pencil to create the underpainting, which was then colored digitally. The piece was not pre-pLanned, but was approached intuitively. The artist would listen to ambient music as a way to enter a relaxed, dream-like state, and let the occurring stream of consciousness lead the decision making for the drawing. This is one way Reinhard aims to channel the abundant creativity that our brains are capable of while dreaming, which can seem be more difficult to access while awake.”
