Max-O-Matic, also known as Máximo Tuja, is a Barcelona-based artist and image maker. As a collage artist, Max works to create “an imaginary world from torn pieces of the real one.” 

He is founding member and director of The Weird Show, showcasing the most outstanding contemporary collage worldwide in exhibitions, internet, and printed matter. .

Max’s finest work is a series he calls “Untitled” from late 2014 to early 2015. He tells hosts Maureen Harmon and Patrick Kirchner about starting this project on vacation, working late into the evenings, and prepping for a show 2 months before its debut.

We also talked with Max about his own creative process—and how setting boundaries for your work can help you break out of a creative slump. 

My Finest Work is a production of Dog Ear Creative and is produced by University FM.

The idea of limits in Max’s work

21:21 - The idea of limits, it's something that it's embedded in my work, even since I started working as an illustrator or as an artist. Limits are always something that I take very seriously into consideration because the time that I realized that not drawing was something that wasn't a limit, but just an opportunity to find another ways of expressing myself.

From concepts to art

07:03 - I was trained to express my ideas verbally, and that helped me to have a clear way to understand ideas and put them into words. And then I had to learn the other way, like putting words, ideas, and concepts into images.

A bit on his process & commercial work

26:49 - So the way I found to make them interesting is mostly playing with colors and texture and adding layers of colors that add information and help to support the narrative. I'm trying to convey with the illustration, but also take like the ugly side of the images I'm using and add some like beauty into them.

Guest Profile:

• Max-O-Matic’s Website
• Max-O-Matic on Twitter
• Max-O-Matic on Instagram
• Max-O-Matic on Facebook

His Work:

• Illustrations on Synder          
• Illustrations on LIE Gallery