From the time he was four years old Max Hammond was destined to paint, as he began on the walls of his home, a budding muralist. As he ran along the edges of the salt marshes of the Great Salt Lake, he was struck by the inescapable solitude of the vast stretches of this area, from the absolute flatness of the salt flats to the surreal quality of the marshes. It was this desolate landscape he began to paint in college. Earning a B.F.A. at the University of Utah, Hammond was formally trained, emphasizing classical figure drawing in addition to his love for landscapes. After winning a trip to Mexico for six weeks, this rural boy was struck by the way the Mexicans used undiluted colors to bringlife to what appeared to be stark living conditions. It was at this point that color began to take on a new life in his paintings.

Hammond left Utah to begin a M.F.A. in painting at Arizona State University where he won the prestigious Nathan Cummings travel award throughout Latin America, where he was again saturated in a world of color and ancient abstraction. Following his thesis show, he was invited to join the Elaine Horwitch Galleries where he met with instant success. His work is widely collected, and appears in the permanent collections of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Finova Corp., the City of Scottsdale, and the City of Mesa among others. Hammond has had solo shows nearly every year for the past twenty five years. His current work occasionally returns to the figures he originally painted where he weaves in and out of abstraction, sometimes almost recognizable, then blurring to pure color, form and texture.

Education
1989-1992 M.F.A. Arizona State University  Painting
1988-1984 B.F.A. University of Utah  Painting and Drawing  Magna Cum Laude 

Exhibitions
2014 LA ART Show, Historical | Modern | Contemporary
2013 Bonner David Galleries solo show
2013 Art Santa Fe, international art show
2012 Bonner David Galleries solo show
2011 San Francisco Fine Art Fair
2009 Bonner David Gallery solo show
2008 Bonner David Gallery solo show
2007 Bonner David Gallery solo show
2006 Bonner David Gallery solo show
2004 Bonner David Gallery show
2003 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show
2003 Celebration of Fine Art
2002 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show
2002 Modified Arts, PHX AZ 2 person show
2001 Another point of View Solo Exhibition
2001 Cold Storage Gallery, Solo show
2000 Modified Arts, PHX, AZ 2 person show
1999 Wolfryd Selway Gallery, LA. CA Solo Exhibition
1997 New School for the Arts, Group show, Scottsdale, AZ
1997 Union Gallery, Solo Exhibition, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
1996 New Directions Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale Center for the Arts
1995 University of Utah, Rolapp show
1994 Plotkin Judaica Museum, Legacy
1994 Arizona State University, Alumni show
1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, shelter show
1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, small work show
1994 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale, Arizona
1993 Food Descending the staircase, Scottsdale Center for the Arts
1993 Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Scottsdale, Arizona
1992 Small pieces show, Elaine Horwitch Gallery
1993 Positive/Negative 9, Slocumb gallery, TN
1992 M.F.A. Thesis Show, Harry Wood Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
1992 Art Detour/Art Link, Phoenix AZ
1991 Finders Keepers Mesa Galleria,  Mesa, AZ
1988 Utah 88 Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
1988 Springville Art Museum Exhibition, Springville Art Museum, Springville Utah
1988 Painting Show, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, Utah
1987 Painting Show, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, Utah

Public Art Projects
2003 Red Mountain Public Library, City of Mesa
1998 Urban Design Studio, City of Scottsdale

Awards/ Scholarships
1992 Liquitex Materials Grant
1991 Nathan Cummings Travel Fellowship
1991 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University
1990 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University
1989 Graduate Tuition Scholarship, Arizona State University
1990 Graduate College Scholarship, Arizona State University
1988 Rolapp Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
1988 Monterrey Travel Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
1987 Mexico Travel Award, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
1987 Departmental Scholarship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
1986 Mary Fuller Scholarship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
1985 Ann M. Cannon Fellowship, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

Teaching Experience
2006 Shemer Art Center, Phoenix AZ  Drawing
1991 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Drawing
1990 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Drawing, 2-D Design

Collections 
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Neiman Marcus
Nordstrom Store Scottsdale
Finova Corp
City of Scottsdale
Montgomery Insurance Co. IA
Harding Marketing
Red Mountain Public Library
Desert Samaritan Hospital, Cardiac unit 
Banner Heath Hospital Mesa, Oncology unit
Law firm of James Brown
Law firm of Roska, Heyman & DeWulf
Usinger’s Sausage, Milwaukee, WI
American Republic Insurance Co. IA
Cole-Taylor Financial Group, IA 

Articles
2009 Luxe Magazine, Volume 11 Issue 1  Journey on; an artist finds his proverbial way.
2009 Desert Living Magazine, Jan In Living Color, Artist Q&A with Max Hammond
2009 Phoenix Home and garden , July Sitting Pretty
2008 Phoenix Magazine
2005 Phoenix Home and Garden  May, Abstract Vision Painter Max Hammond 
1994 Phoenix Home and Gardens, May, Max Hammond’s Magic Boxes
1993 Art Talk, Nov. pp 29 
1993 Scottsdale Progress Tribune, Nov 25 pp11 Bright colors fill Mesa Artists works
1993 Arizona Republic Sunday, Dec 5
1993 pp6 Artist discovers magic in life affirming work
1993 Phoenix Home and Garden, Nov. Craftsman and comfort
1991 Tribune Newspapers, March 3, E4 Galeria Mesa Finders Keepers creates Art from discards
1991 Winter Visitor Independent, Feb 27 Galeria Mesa to open Finders Keepers