max aiken

Born in 1947, Max Aiken qualified as an architect from Manchester College of Art and joined Foster Associates London. As well as architecture he has had a very varied career which includes dairy and sheep farming, higher education at Wolverhampton University Business School and Head of Post Graduate Studies at Regent’s Business School, London 2007 - 2010. He lived in Italy for a year 2011 - 2012, learning Italian and travelling throughout the country. In 2013 he and his wife project managed the building of their own house near Bath. STATEMENT I have always drawn and painted. This has been a constant interest through my various career changes and lifestyles: which “opens the mind to be more creative and experimental”. Like many artists, much of my inspiration is drawn from the places I have visited and experienced first hand. Rather than giving a realistic interpretation of the scene, I explore a means of expressing a sense of place, and the excitement that it generates. I work on themes until the ideas and excitement are exhausted within me. Each theme can offer quite separate responses and styles, which I like to think show a lucidity in interpretation and exploration. I find the space between realism and abstraction endlessly fascinating. This space is where I like to be, and it offers me much material and potential when combined with the exploration of colour combinations. I like to use oil and graphite, though working with Japan paper and watercolour offers the chance to see merging colours at their best. Colours are an endlessly fascinating area, which I am always working on. I have benefitted from many art courses over the years, and latterly joined a course on Abstraction at the RA in London.