Max Estenger

Max Estenger was born in Los Angeles, California and in 1988 received his M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego. He has been living and working in New York City since 1988. In 2016, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson AZ  presented a mid-career survey i curated by Jocko Weyland with a fully illustrated catalogue. His work was recently acquired and exhibited for the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in 2016.

For the past three decades, Max Estenger has been developing new possibilities for abstraction. Utilizing a rigorous formal language as the driving force, his painted objects are involved in a conversation with the ongoing dialogue surrounding abstract painting—formal, material and ideological. Estenger’s work brings together a visual clarity, integrity and moral dimension with a tough-minded tenacity fusing a serious study of direct experience with aesthetic gratification.

Biography

Born:  1963, Los Angeles, California

Lives and Works:  Brooklyn, New York

Education:   University of California, San Diego, M.F.A. 1988-1986

                    California State University, Fullerton, B.A. 1986-1982

Solo  Exhibitions

2017     Max Estenger New Paintings, Norte Maar, Brooklyn, New York (cat)

2016     Max Estenger 1991-2016,  Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, Arizona (cat)

2014     Max Estenger: Digital, rumba, Santa Monica, California

             Max Estenger New Paintings, John Molloy Gallery, New York, New York  (cat)

1998     Max Estenger Watching Forever,  Steffany Martz Gallery, New York, New York

1997     Max Estenger Headquarters,  Steffany Martz Gallery, New York, New York

1995     Max Estenger OSHA Paintings, Steffany Martz Gallery, New York, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022     A Precedes B, David Richard Gallery, New York, New York

2021    The Neo & The Geo: New Painting Forms 1986-1995, Pazo Fine Art, Kensington, MD.  curated by Paul Corio (cat)

2016     Learning to See Color, Vicki Myhren Gallery University of Denver, Colorado

             Ways and Means, Norte Maar @ 1285 Avenue of the Americas Gallery, New York City (curated by Jason Andrew)

             Geometries, John Molloy Gallery, New York

2006     Minimalism, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, California (curated by Mat Gleason)

2001     Anymore, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut (curated by David Borawski)

2000     Latent, Limelight Gallery, New York  (curated by Eduardo Casares)

             Goodbye, Farewell, So Long, Steffany Martz Gallery, New York

1998     Sofa Not Included, gallery: untitled, Dallas, Texas

1997     Chelsea, Steffany Martz Gallery, New York

1996     The Future Last Forever, Steffany Martz Gallery, New York

1995     Other Rooms, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York

             Pleasant Pebble, The Work Space, New York (curated by Mary Jones)

1994     Group Show, American Fine Arts Co., New York

             Cuban Presences, Vista Gallery, New York (with Carmen Herrera)

             20th Anniversary Exhibition Part III, Artists Space, New York

             We Destroy the Family, The Greene Street Project, 34.5 Greene Street, New York

1993     DIATRIBE, Tomoko Liguori Gallery, New York

             What To Say What Not To Say, Achim Kubinski Gallery, New York

             Art-Quake! Art After Post-Modernism and Other Natural Disasters, 450 Gallery, New York

1992     Behind Bars, Thread Waxing Space, New York  (curated by Meg O’Rourke) (cat)

             Pushing Painting, Stark Gallery, New York

1991    After Reinhardt: The Ecstasy of Denial, Tomoko Liguori Gallery, New York  (cat)

Selected Bibliography

Jenkins, Mark, “In The Galleries: Artists Illustrate the Evolving Principles of Geometric Principles,”

The Washington Post, October 22, 2022, p. E5 (photo)

Regan, Margaret, “Abstraction and Reality,” Tuscon Weekly, March 24, 2016  (photo)

Weyland, Jocko, “Max Estenger: The Thing in Actuality,” in Max Estenger, exhibition catalogue

            (Tucson: Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, 2016) 44 pp.

Cohen, Joyce, “A Bed and An Easel Under One Roof,” New York Times, October 11, 2015 (photo)

Turner, Douglas, “Studio Visit: Max Estenger,” The Architecture of Tomorrow, March 2, 2014, 4 pp. (photo)

Rose Smith, Audrey, “Max Estenger: New Paintings at John Molloy,” Out of Order,  March 2014 (photo) Weyland, Jocko, “Max Estenger Interviewed by Jocko Weyland,” in Max Estenger

            New Paintings, exhibition catalogue (New York: John Molloy Gallery, 2014), 28 pp.

Finch, Charlie, “The Return of Max Estenger,” artnet, March 20, 2008.

Brian-Picard, Claude & Antoine Perrot, La Couleur Importée (Readymade Color)

          (Paris:  POSITIONS & MCA, 2002) pp. 69-72  (photo)

Ferree, Joel, “Artist in Residence,” Time Out New York,  May 4-11, 2000, pp. 18-19 (photo)

Mitchell, Charles Dee, “Showing What’s Current, Two Galleries Can Electrify,”

          The Dallas Morning News, December 22, 1998, pp. 34, 37.

Morgan, Robert C., “Max Estenger: Watching Forever at Steffany Martz,” Review, Nov. 1, 1998.

Fend, Peter, “Max Estenger at Steffany Martz,” artnet, May 21, 1997.

Moody, Tom, “New York Reviews,” Artforum, November 1997, p. 117 (photo)

Drolet, Owen, “Flash Art Reviews,” Flash Art, October 1997, pp. 115-116 (photo)

Crane, Darren,  “Max Estenger:  Emerging New York Art Star,” COAGULA #28, Summer 1997 pp. 38, 66.

Johnson, Richard, “Godless Art,” New York Post, April 28, 1997, p. 8.

“Critics Pick, OSHA Safety Colors,” Time Out New York  Nov. 1-8, 1995, p. 26 (photo)

Jacques, Alison, “DI A TRIBE,” Flash Art, March-April 1994, p. 63 (photo)

Morgan, Robert, C., “The New Endgame,” in After the Deluge:  Essays on Art in the 90s,

          (New York:  Red Bass Publications, 1993), pp. 62-67 (photo)

Crane, Darren, “Art Quake,” COVER, April 1993, p. 17 (photo)

Estenger, Max, “Innovation After Post-Modernism,” Tema Celeste, Summer 1992, p. 21 (photo)

Myers, Terry R., “After Reinhardt,” (review) Tema Celeste, January-March 1992, pp. 115-116.

Morgan, Robert, C., “The New Endgame,” Tema Celeste, January-March 1992, pp. 65-69 (photo) O’Rourke, Meg, “Behind Bars,” in Behind Bars, exhibition catalogue,

          (New York:  Thread Waxing Space 1992), pp. 2-32 (photo)

Faust, Gretchen, “New York in Review,” Arts Magazine, December 1991, pp. 84-85.

New York Galleries, Flash Art, November-December 1991, p. 153 (photo)

Estenger, Max, “After Reinhardt,” in After Reinhardt:  The Ecstasy of Denial, exhibition

          catalogue (New York:  Tomoko Liguori Gallery, 1991), pp. 3-8.

Estenger, Max, “John Baldessari,” PCN, May-June 1991, pp. 69-70.

Estenger, Max & Meg O’Rourke, “Alan Charlton,” Arts Magazine, April 1991, p. 74.