Gallery With A Cause • Located in the New Mexico Cancer Center • Benefitting the NMCC Foundation
Please call gallery director Regina Held to arrange a private gallery tour, make a purchase, or ask any questions.
Biography
Max holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of New Mexico, and he also studied at Hunter College and The University of Arizona. Recently he earned a Digital Media Marketing Certificate from Central New Mexico Community College. During his time as a student at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Max worked for the Center for Creative Photography, where he organized original negatives, prints, and journals created by masters such as Ansel Adams and Eugene Weston. It was an experience that expanded his affection for photography as an art form and motivated Max to purchase his first camera. Locally, Max has exhibited works at The Albuquerque Museum, The South Broadway Cultural Center, Tortuga Gallery, Mariposa Gallery, New Mexico Cancer Center, The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, The University of New Mexico, and EXPO New Mexico.
Ongoing projects include #WhatWeSee, an extensive portrait series celebrating diversity, body positivity, and self-expression, for which he was named a Resiliency Residency artist and received funding through the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund. He was also awarded a grant through the City of Albuquerque to document “A Day in the Life” at the Department of Senior Affairs and display the photographs as part of an inaugural group exhibition at Albuquerque City Hall’s Gallery One. Other recent projects include Behind the Screen: Social Distancing Portraits, a series of images of people taking selfies during the COVID pandemic, and Out of Body, a collection of figurative works emphasizing movement. He was recently selected through the City of Albuquerque Public Art program to participate in an upcoming biodiversity-themed exhibition slated to open in May 2026.
Max was chosen as an Albuquerque Journal Readers’ Choice Favorite New Mexico Photographer in 2022 and 2023. For four consecutive years, Max received the Albuquerque Pride OUTstanding Photography Award for his service to the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
Artist Statement
This collection of landscapes taken in New Mexico, Alaska, and Pennsylvania reflects my desire to find spiritual connections to the land. Sometimes nostalgic and other times unfamiliar, diverse places give us meaning.
My theater background and knowledge of psychology that informs my portrait photography also shapes the way I perceive landscapes. Weather is not merely scientific in nature. It has an emotional, soulful intensity. The contrast of sun and shadow reveals light and dark in our physical world but also represents dimensions of the psyche. When I take photographs, I watch with anticipation for the sun, wind, or rain to come into contact with the earth. These interactions, however aggressive, are often the most riveting because they remind us of times in our lives when we experience the depth of uncertainty, change, and growth. More subtle, quieter times of stillness are captivating too, as they help us reflect and be mindful.
The earth’s rocks, water, and sky are constant, yet ever-changing. I will never see it all in my lifetime, but I continue to search for those moments when light dances among the clouds and paints the terrain. Sometimes I get to share a glimpse of that timeless, yet transitory beauty.