Paintings
Simon of the Desert 
Difference of Opinion 
Dear Mr. Fantasy 
Sigmund Freud Marathon 
A Desert Forest
Max Talley was born in New York and received a BA in literature from a liberal arts college. He started painting at the Art Barge near Montauk, Long Island, then studied painting with Leatrice Rose at the Art Students League in the ’90s. Since then, he has been featured in group and two-person shows in Manhattan, as well as in California. His art has appeared on CD covers, books, and journals–most recently on Young Ravens Literary Review #7, with an upcoming cover on Santa Barbara Literary Journal (Vol.3).
Talley’s work has been called “Literary Art” and “Primitive Surrealism.” His early influences were European surreal artists and German Expressionists like Max Beckmann and George Grosz. The first artists his mother and aunt exposed him to were Joan Miro and Picasso, and they are still among Talley’s favorites.
He continues to paint, mainly in oil on acrylic underpainting on canvas, and lives in a heavily-guarded compound on a rocky isle off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.