Catching Up With Influencer, Max, A New York Based Artist
Max Donahue, a multidisciplinary artist based in New York, is building their own creative universe through fashion, film, photography, and performance. Max recently graduated from Parsons School of Design with a bachelor's degree in fashion design and has worked for the likes of Kim Shui and Naeem Khan.
Photography by Joshua Wiederhold
Photos Processed by Asuna’s Color Darkroom
Where did you grow up? How do you think that may have influenced who you are today?
I grew up in suburban Massachusetts in a town called Southborough. The time I spent there informs everything I do now. I felt rather out of place as a child, like whom I wanted to be could never, and would never, exist today, I seek out experiences that free me from the ideas that held me back when I was younger. I live every moment as my true self, and I don’t think I would know how to do that if I never knew what not being my true self felt like. Despite the growing pains, I’m beyond grateful for my upbringing. I love my family and everything I do today I do for them.
How would you describe yourself and what you do?
My name is Max and I am an artist.
Did you find yourself drawn to fashion through other artistic mediums, or was it the other way around?
It’s all one: making clothes is just the creative process that comes most naturally to me. I’ve always loved wearing dresses, making dresses. Again, it’s all one to me. I’m drawn to fashion at my core, and I see fashion in all other mediums: fashion is drawing, is photography, is video, is music, is performance, and is everything. I guess that’s a roundabout way of saying that I’m drawn to other mediums through fashion, because fashion has a place in every art form.
How did your different, creative interests influence each other?
They all seep together. I might make one stitch on a gown while thinking about how I’ll photograph it, and the next stitch I’m thinking of how the gown will exist in a performance, and the next stitch I’m thinking about what song the gown would sing. No part of the process is linear. Everything I’m drawn too is based on my past, present, and future influences. My interests influence each other based on the time and place they come into my mind.
Photography by Joshua Wiederhold
Photos Processed by Asuna’s Color Darkroom
What does the design process look like for you?
It begins in my book. I’ve been keeping track of my thoughts in my book, various books, since I was 16. What’s in my book is the abstract of what might one day be a garment, a photo, a performance. than it moves to a color or material. Maybe I’m flipping through my book and I’m drawn to a yellow page from October 2019. Then I go to my fabric wall and find a material that matches that feeling, what I felt in yellow in October and then I make. I do not use sewing patterns, I do not make a plan. I make based on what I feel in the present moment. Everything I make is a direct reflection of the time it came to be. I have been trying to define my process more, though. With custom orders, the creative process is completely different, and I enjoy that difference. Exchanging ideas with clients to make what they see in their head become real is one of the most rewarding parts of making clothes. .
You’ve developed a strong sense of creative direction through your work. Do you see yourself as primarily a fashion designer, a photographer, an artist, or an amalgamation of different creative avenues?
Thank you! I’ve never been one to define myself At present, I see myself as a fashion designer. Who knows about tomorrow though?
Photography by Joshua Wiederhold
Photos Processed by Asuna’s Color Darkroom
What's your favorite project that you’ve worked on?
The Dress. I’ll share it with you soon.
How would you describe your experience at Parsons, and how it led you here in your creative endeavors?
I feel so privileged to have grown amongst such brilliant people. It’s less so about the institution itself and more about the experiences I had, both in and out of school. My peers and professors taught me so much about the world, how to live in it, art, and how to make it. I most definitely would not be who I am today without the time I spent at Parsons.
What are some of your artistic influences?
Every artist that’s ever lived. I try not to turn to art when making art. The thing is everything I do, as all information we take in, informs how we create. I think the key to making genuine art is to look only inside yourself, limit external influences as much as possible. Never will I ever make a mood board, color story, or ‘collection.’ These are all limiting factors on the creative process. But to answer the question, here’s a short list: Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself, Alberto Giacometti, Matthew Barney’s The Cremaster Cycle, Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, Cartier God, Marina Abramović, Amanda Lepore, Sol Lewitt’s Wall Drawings, Nick Cave’s Soundsuits, Sophie, Camille Claudel, Louise Bourgeois, The Higgs Boson, CERN, Kim Kardashian in Mugler, Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor, Debussy’s complete works, Rachmanioff’s Prelude in C sharp Minor, anything in the key of C sharp minor, Timbaland, Artpop, Frédéric Chopin, Young Thug, Nicki Minaj, Zanele Muholi, Jamie Wyeth, Giorgio Di Sant’Angelo, Kara Walker, Emma Watson, Heidegger, Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Li ZiQi, Trisha Paytas, Dame Judy Dench, Elliot Page, Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video, Dario Argento’s Suspiria, Henry Darger, Aloïse Corbaz, Clementine Hunter, Lee Godie, Susan Te Kahurangi King, Yoko Ono, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Barbie, Beethoven, the entire cast and production team of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Zhuangzi, Agatha Christie, Nina Simone, performance artist Joan Jonas.
Your Instagram is full of collaborations with different photographers, models, and artists. How do these projects come about?
I love working with my friends and making new friends via creative work. Usually it starts with an idea, from a friend’s mind or my own, and we work together to bring each other’s creative visions to life. It’s exciting to see your friends shine and to create a space that allows for mutual growth and imagination.
Do you have anything coming up that you're excited about?
Yes, every day I wake up excited for what’s to come. I’m a firm believer in not sharing anything prematurely. I refuse to tell a single soul what I’m working on until the project is fully fledged. First of all, it leaves for more drama when the project comes to fruition, but, secondly, I don’t want anyone’s energy but my own to surround what I am creating. I’m a very trusting person, but when it comes to my work I hold my cards close.
When thinking about your future, what do you see for yourself personally and professionally years from now?
Personally, I will be living in Paris. Professionally I will be working at a couture house. Nothing is real and it’s all a dream though.
You seem to be amongst the ranks of young designers taking an entirely different approach to fashion. What do you think the future of fashion looks like?
Bright, loving, soulful, undefinable! It will be whatever we want it to be. The only thing I’m adamant about in terms of what the future of fashion must look like, is that it must be uncommercial. If you design garments to be sold, you have taken the art out of fashion. It is uninteresting and unoriginal to design clothes based on what will make money, and I feel fashion has become far too commercial in current times.
Can you share your socials with us?
Instagram: @maxdonahue1111
Article by Arushi Telwar, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Maelle Eugene, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
