BIO

Max Roemer (born 1971, Germany) is a sculptor and painter, based in Encinitas, California. He brings out figures of many types in shapes from cut-down trees, rotten wood, and unearthed roots. These are inner figures of angels and fools, ancient heroes and local beach bums that look like they have been excavated from nearby fields. They appear archaic yet animated, as they find expression in things as they are, celebrating life in decayed materials. 

He is inspired by nature and his immediate environment, as well as traditions that share this focus, from medieval icons, African sculpture, to Chinese ink painting. His paintings often layer meanings, infused with humor and sprinkled with popular culture, informed by both ancient philosophy and modernist poetry. They give pause for second looks and contemplation. 

Crafted with deft dexterity and hard-won intimacy of materials, the work is highly contemporary, as it is a playful response to our technology-frenzied consumer society, or the mediated “world of made” that cuts us off from inner and outer nature.