Artist

Socially distributed art — work that only exists when other people pick it up.

Max trained as a printmaker and social-practice artist at Chico State after walking away from sterile computer science. The through-line is interaction: scavenger hunts, gift currencies, collaborative production lines, and NFTs that are receipts for physical, communal objects.

Original scan of Blue 27, Pink 28, and Yellow 29 — Original scan — Blue 27, Pink 28, Yellow 29

I.B.G.E. — the original viralmonetaryunit.com banner

International Bank of Gifting and Exchange book cover

Viral Monetary Units · 2011

International Bank of Gifting and Exchange

Viral Monetary Units

The Making of Viral Monetary Units — photographs documenting the manufacturing of the notes. Behind the scenes at the bank. Serialized gifts of coffee, beer, a meal, tracked on a public ledger.

Photographs by Kyle Delmar · PDF ebook · Lulu

Get the book viralmonetaryunit.com

Marisol Vengas

A studio alias, not a disguise. Under this name Max ran a high-frequency production method: scripts pulling thousands of building photographs, cheap foamcore instead of precious substrates, friends coloring in a café, acetate branches, duct-tape seals. Art as a crew, not a signature. About a quarter a piece — on purpose.

Available book · 2009

The Art of Marisol Vengas

All the works. 100 full-color pieces completed in June 2009.

100 pages · Color paperback · Crown Quarto · $30.50

Get the book

Marisol Vengas

Blue · Pink · Yellow

marisolvengas.com

Available book · 2008

FOUND FLYERS

Not so found. Rip them out and put them everywhere. A gift for anyone who likes contemporary or socially engaged work. First edition: five copies.

61 pages · Paperback · US Letter · 2nd edition · $7.06

Get the book

Read a page · 1 / 3

DO YOU HAVE ANY

WACKY

TOBACKY?

if you have extra

call me, thanks

(530) 892-4263

ask for MAX

Chico, CA

Page from FOUND FLYERS — xerox flyer, Chico, 2008.

Curio Cards 27, 28, 29

In 2017 those physical works became Blue, Pink, and Yellow — three of the first art NFTs on Ethereum, in a show organized with Travis Uhrig, Thomas Hunt (MadBitcoins), and Rhett Creighton out of the San Francisco Bitcoin meetups. Card 29 later sold for 150 ETH. The full set reached Christie's and Sotheby's. Max has described the role as stage director: making the conditions for other people to finish the work.

See the collection on curio.cards and buy the originals at marisolvengas.com.

Live work