Phileas: I always wondered – why do you draw me? And what’s the appeal of drawing compared to painting or sculpting?

Max: I pretty much have to (laughs)! No seriously, it’s fun, therapeutic and I just love getting into the flow, you know? To my mind, real happiness comes from being productive – it doesn’t matter if you build a table, design a car or just draw: you create something in the world that hasn’t been there before, and that’s really satisfying. I said therapeutic, because when I feel down, I can be pretty sure that sitting down by that table crowded with paper, pens, pencils, colours, inks and brushes, and listening to music will get my spirits up.

The appeal of drawing in particular is that, basically, you can draw wherever you are – as long as you carry pen and paper – and I think of it as the beginning, the basis of everything else in art. It incorporates, expresses the first idea. In order to paint or to sculpt you usually need a studio. And an education in how to actually do it. Most of the time, anyways.

Phileas: ‘The flow’ is a concept that frequently pops up when discussing creativity. How do you define it?

Max: Well, getting into the zone, the flow,…when you are working and blind out everything else. It’s a state of mind that’s hugely euphoric, meditative. I feel like I’m just a rod for something that comes from outside, flows through me, my hands, the pen or brush and onto the paper. Plato said something about it in his Aesthetics. And finally, it’s a kind of escapism too.

Phileas: Sounds intriguing. How do you do that? Is there a method?

Max: Method to madness, yes. The mindset must be right – you know, set and setting – and then I add music and different substances to the mix. And off I go (laughs).

Phileas: I always wonder – what substances?

Max: THC, mostly. Sometimes the stuff that Hofmann and Shulgin talked about also helps.

Phileas: Right… Do you feel it necessary to be inebriated while creating me and my cosmos?

Max: There is a point to be made about drugs and art. Art History is full of people who used – and often abused – certain substances to get creative or to find inspiration. I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary to be high to be creative, but it certainly opens up doors to something different.

Something you maybe didn’t even know was there, lurking in some cranny of your brain. Aldous Huxley made some noteworthy comments on that.

Phileas: You refer to yourself as outsider artist. What do you mean exactly?

Max: I’m an artist at heart and mind but never followed any noteworthy courses, let alone an academic art education. Jean Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut to describe art produced by amateurs, auto-didacts, laymen, that work outside the established art system but nonetheless create intriguing and, well, good art. A related concept that I am drawn to is horror vacui.

Phileas: How would you describe your work?

Max: Basically, there are two main tracks. To both the character Phileas is fundamental. On the one hand I draw very minimalistic classic comic strips, using very few panels to illustrate quotes and aphorisms from thinkers through the ages that I think are true and valuable insights.

Sometimes I actually come up with something nice myself (laughs). The basic idea was that, if you have something to say that you deem important enough to at least invest some energy in sharing it, combine it with funny images. The human brain loves pictures and laughing leads to the release of neurotransmitters that make you happy, thus reinforcing the positive association with what was just seen/read and, consequently, a better memory of the message.

On the other hand I go wild on mythological themes, especially the Greeks who thought about anything and everything and developed sophisticated stories and fables about humans and human behaviour that still resonate today.

The series “If you ever wondered…” for example takes stories from Greek mythology and illustrates a moment before, or after the “main event”. Always with a humorous smack to it.

It started as an exercise in what I call meta drawing, where I tried to superpose different layers: Greek mythology, literature, an external narrator explaining the scene with a funny modern twist, scientific perspectives on the used materials (the music and the drugs having an influence on the firing of neurons and the release of neurotransmitters, the carbon in the ink and the cellulose of the paper, the uncertainty principle and the white page). Finally, everything is a product of and a reaction to the oppressive ubiquity of and schizophrenic approach to sex and sexuality in Western society.

Then sometimes, it’s just some absolutely random thing that comes to mind. Watercolours, a medium I discovered quite recently, is nice for abstract stuff. For a long time I stuck to black and white drawings with maybe a hint of colour.

Phileas: What about my name then?

Max: Philos is the friend, philein means to love. The ending EAS conveys a sense of universality, similar to pan or poly. Thus, Phileas is the equivalent of Polyphil. Your name, to my mind, signifies something along the lines of ‚the one who brings joy‘. You’re my alter-ego through whose eyes I digest my experiences and render them in artistic terms.

Phileas: Why the mix of French, English, German and sometimes that strange writing?

Max: Language creates reality, I believe. I’m half Belgian and half German, raised bilingually. English is today’s lingua franca, at least in the west. I like to play with language – spoken and written – with words, meanings, double entendres. I like to use language as additional aesthetic element and some things are better expressed in one language than another.

The strange writing, as you say, is old German handwriting. I learned it to read old books and letters and to write in a sort of ‘secret language’ because I was into cryptography when I was around twelve. It resembles calligraphy and that’s tremendously appealing.

Phileas: Name some of the giants on whose shoulders you are standing? Who inspired you, who are your heroes?

Max: Uf, there’re so many. As a child I was devouring Belgian comics by Hergé, Vandersteen, Peyo, Goscinny and Uderzo, so they certainly left a mark. Together with the Flemish Primitives that spoke to me early on. Later the artists publishing in the French magazine “Fluide Glacial” made a huge impression on me, Gotlib and Édika in particular. Apart from that I would probably name the erotomaniacs Félicien Rops and Franz von Bayros, further Aubrey Beardsley. Now that I think of it probably also Hans Bellmer, Kolo Moser, Schiele and many others. Most of the influence is unconscious, I guess, and the inspirators are legion. Every artwork you see, ‘consume’, leaves some sort of mark.

Phileas: What do you wish Phileas to achieve in the future?

Max: I had a couple of exhibitions years ago, but it was always kind of a side track. Now with the digital possibilities and opportunities it’s quite easy to show your work to a lot of people. But of course, you also want to know what people think of your twisted mindfruits – and if they are ready to put down some coin for it. So if, one way or another, Phileas could pay for my sons’ education – that would be gravy. But I’m happy as long as Phileas makes people smile and think.

Phileas: thanks a lot for talking to us and good luck for your projects!

Max: Merci!