Since the early 1970s, Max Cole has been applying a working principle for her paintings and drawings, hardly changed to this day. Using the spectrum of colors from black and grey to white as well as colored shades of grey, she applies a pattern of horizontal strips on her paintings that results in a pulsating rhythm, which is broken by a staccato of regularly and closely set vertical hairline strokes. Due to the painting manner and the serial principle in her œuvre, Cole’s works are frequently mentioned within the context of Post Constructivism, Post Minimalism and Concrete Art. Above all, it misjudges the aspect of the work that has gone into the œuvre, which contributes existentially to the content. Especially a painting like the large-format Catskill with its seemingly endless repetition of stroke marks conveys an obsessive method of working. Stroke for stroke the artist and her temporality are woven into the work of art. However, this must not be seen as a means of self-expression – quite the opposite is true. It opens up the dimension of boundlessness in which the subject loses itself and extinguishes its identity.
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