By Rebecca Pikus
When meeting Max Lightbender for the first time, you just know you are in the presence of a true Visionary Artist. With his playful yet piercing blue eyes, his shock of blond hair, & his handsome chiseled features, he looks like he just stepped out of a cover for GQ Magazine. Max’s personality is Effervescent and his Enthusiasm about his Art is overflowing. Max’s Spirit Animal is the Hummingbird — which symbolizes the Enjoyment of Life and Lightness of Being. The Hummingbird lifts up Negativity and expresses Love everywhere it exists. It can travel great distances and fly backwards — Hummingbirds symbolize “Adaptability & Resilence while keeping a Playful & Optimistic Outlook”. So — this explains Max Lightbender — and his Art — perfectly. Once you meet Max Lightbender — or rather, Experience him — you will never forget him.
Max is a Visionary Digital Artist as well as the Owner of Max Lightbender Studios and Creare Fine Art Gallery on El Paseo, in Palm Desert, Ca. He opened a few months ago in the current location at 73255 El Paseo, Suites 1-3 — relocating from Lightbender Studios a few doors down, and previously from Backstreet Galleries in Palm Springs, as well as Galleries in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Max’s work is stunning and awe-inspiring, he has no problem appreciating other great artists, who he generously gives spacious accommodations to in his Gallery — Contemporary Sculptors & Painters. Max wanted to create an edgy — cutting-edge Gallery on El Paseo — the first of its kind in this more conservative art enclave. Max’s Creare Fine Art Gallery — and its eclectic & electrifying Art Events — are already Rocking the Desert! In addition, an Invitation from Max to have a personal tour of his Production Studio is an exciting privilege for those invited in. Max Lightbender recently participated in Laurie & Larry Weitz’s private “Art & Espionage” Event at their iconic home in Palm Springs, Ca.
Max Lightbender was born in Memphis, Tenn., raised in Kansas City, Kansas and later went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. where he earned a BS in Aeronautical Science. His love of Flying and dreams of becoming a Pilot were crushed when he sustained serious injuries to both of his eyes in a Motorcycle accident. Max went on to have a career with the Ritz-Carlton, and later in the burgeoning field of Computer Software. Max was later diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) and discovered to his amazement that the prescribed medication gave him focus, an unexpected side effect of unleashing a torrent of creativity, and an obsession & inspiration to make the remarkable Computer-generated Images that he now creates.
As everyone knows, the greatest Artists are those who have suffered terrible adversity, and heartbreak and pain — but like the Hummingbird — rise above it. Such is the case with Max, who was diagnosed with HIV/Aids 27 Years ago — he is not only a brave survivor, but this on-going condition has had a most profound influence not only on his outlook on life, but his Art and its many Subject Matters. Max has committed himself fully to the creative expression of his artwork, and as a result has established the Lightbender Artist Studio LLC as an outlet for not only his work, but also that of other Artists living with HIV/Aids.
The Lightbender Artists Studio will provide a viable creative entity for those whose financial & economic circumstances might ordinarily preclude their personal creative process & artistic expression. Max has contributed many of his artworks to Charitable Organizations for their Fundraisers. Max Lightbender Studios is a working art & reproduction Studio (with the most inexpensive rates here in the Desert) –for Commissioned Digital Artwork, Corporate Art Printing, Art Reproduction. Photo restoration, & Large-Format Giclee Artists Reproductions (His Printer is a Canon Image Prograph 9100. 60″)
Max now composes images of remarkable complexity — his God-given talent for composition, innovative subject matter, color, and symbolism have produced several hundred magnificent canvases. Max Lightbender’s Giclee Digital Image artworks now have National and International Collectors. Max was recently challenged to do a series on Palm Springs Celebrities — So! — Max created his “Palm Springs Celebrity Series — Flight of a Hummingbird” — Sinatra’s “Boyz Night Out At Frankie’s Digs with Marilyn”, “Cher & Sonnys Star at the Kaufmann House” and “Marilyn’s [Monroe] Riviera Hotel Pool Splash Party in Palm Springs”. Max’s amazing large canvases range from Dogs to Horses, Birds, Tigers, to Leonardo Di Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Einstein — to Glamour: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, Elvis, Rita Hayworth — Acquatic ocean scenes, post Modern architecture — the expansive images emanating from of Max’s mind are unending! Max also accepts Commissions from Art Lovers. The public is invited to Max Lightbender Studios / Creare Fine Art Gallery 7 Days a week to meet Max and his new Teacup Chihuahua puppy “Euro”!
MAX LIGHTBENDER WILL BE THE FEATURED ARTIST AT CREARE FINE ART GALLERY, 73255 EL PASEO, P.D. at the ARTWALK — Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, 6:00–9:00pm — DJ, Wine, Food & Lots of Beautiful People!
