Iconic pop artist Max marks Summer of Love

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Peter Max, the artist whose psychedelic style embodied the wild spirit of the 1960s, still is amazed and bemused by the impact of his works.

Max was in San Francisco for an appearance Friday night at a retrospective of his Pop Art works -- part of the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" that celebrated rock music, easy sex and an alternative lifestyle.

In an interview with Reuters, Max reflected on a career in which he cast aside realism for a cosmic, dreamy style of bright colors that brought him fame in the late 1960s, as well as licensing deals and a multimillion-dollar fortune.

"From being kind of saddened, no work, not knowing where to go, what to do with this great skill of realism I had, to suddenly find out that I had a style that came to me accidentally, and suddenly I was like in the middle of the cultural flow," said Max, who turns 70 next month. "People told me that I, like, ushered in the '60s; it's ludicrous.

"That was the opinion that people got from this art style that was so cosmic, that was so stars and planets," he said. "Something was happening to me that was 1,000 times greater than my wildest expectations."

Many in San Francisco are remembering the 1960s this weekend as bands that rose to prominence in that turbulent decade, such as Jefferson Starship, return for a daylong concert in Golden Gate Park, the site of a January 1967 concert seen as the beginning of the Summer of Love.

That year, youth from across the United States made their way to San Francisco, the focal point of the hippie culture, and Max's work became an artistic backdrop as millions put copies of his posters on their walls. His style also helped inspire the Beatles' cartoon "Yellow Submarine."

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