Member Printmaking Screen Print Solo artist

Max Lilley

posted by Amber Weaver June 28, 2018

We’d like to introduce screenprinter and new official People of Print Member Max Lilley, who’s bold and brightly coloured prints caught the eye of our team here at POP. His enthusiastic and colourful attitude comes across in his printed works, his aim being to inspire the world to pick up a squeegee and have a go at printing themselves. This talented printmaker creates his wonderful works in Leeds print studio run by Kirstie and Mick, who without being so helpful Max tells us, he wouldn’t have got to where he is now. Print studios can always be quite intimidating, however, finding the right place to nurture your printing processes is always very important.

His typical process is coming up with a few vague graphical ideas when he’s walking around or travelling. This then turns into a scribble which then forms a half-baked idea, then transferred onto a computer with a trial and error kind of process of experimenting with sketches and layouts. Max tells us “Although it’s quite an experimental back and forth activity when I digitally evolve my ideas, I’ve always got in the back of my head about how to break the image down and get it to screenprint without losing that initial spark or excitement.”

As you can see, Lilley likes to create bold, contrasting statement pieces that are quite experimental in nature but also has an honesty to them. Having been creatively soaked up by many influences over the year’s whether it’s art, design, music, architecture, food, sub sculptures, friends etc, they’ve all mashed together and manifested into his style of work. Classic designers such as Andy Warhol, Eduardo Paolozzi and Roy Lichenstein have also played a role of reference in Lilley’s work. Zaha Hadid, in particular, is a huge influence along with Terence Conran who strives for simple, honest design that makes a statement without having any pretence.