Artist's big, bright style shines on

SAN FRANCISCO - 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."

The growing power of youth culture also made Max rich as he started licensing his art for dozens of objects as diverse as bedsheets, eyeglasses, clocks, and jewelry between 1967 and 1971. Max said he made $6 million to $7 million from those deals, which he says generated retail sales of $1.1 billion.

"Such an explosion was monumental; I could have never gotten that kind of explosion just being in galleries," he said ahead of the opening of his show at the de Young Museum, which last hosted one of his shows in 1970. "Then I realized I was a painter, you know, I shouldn't do licensing."

Since then, Max has focused his efforts on his commercial studio, which employs 105 people in New York City and generates sales of $80 million to $100 million a year. When he turns on a red light outside his private studio, his staff knows to let him paint without disruption.

Max's art has landed him on the covers of magazines, earned him commissions to paint a commercial jet, design a US postage stamp, and create artwork for concerts. Some critics have dismissed his work as overly commercial and not "serious."

"It's because of the licensing," he said. "At the time I thought I made a mistake that I should not have licensed, but I am a full-time artist. I draw and paint day and night."

The Pop Art legend's biggest goal is to make animated films with motion capture technology.

"I've got millions of drawings I can put into place," he said. "I want it to be just an amazing musical."