Many people say that you should never meet your heroes because they won’t be the people that you really want them to be, but my experience of this has been completely different. As an artist I have always looked up to other artists and been inspired by them, and Peter Max is one of my favorites. Around 2 years ago my daughter arrived into the world and being a dad really changed my outlook on life, just as everyone says. At that time I was really trying to make it as a sculptor or metal pieces, but things just hadn’t quite clicked. I reluctantly decided to get a job which would help to pay for our new little bundle of joy, but I still did the art thing as a side hustle on Facebook, with dreams that someone may see my talent. 

One day I received a message from someone who claimed to be one of Peter Max’s agents, asking me if I could do a custom piece for him. Naturally I thought that this was wind up, and so I ignored it, then another message came through. I figured I had nothing to lose so arranged a meeting with the client, in the hopes of meeting Peter. 

The meeting took place at one of his exhibitions and lo and behold, there was Peter when I arrived. I stole a couple of minutes of his time and began discussing the message, when he told me that he really liked my work and wanted to buy one of my pieces, I was totally blown away. 

I decided to take my opportunity as I knew that Peter does some great work with young and local artists, and brazenly asked him if he had any space in future exhibits where I could showcase my work, and he was more than happy to help. 

I was asked to provide 4 pieces for an exhibition which would be taking place 2 weeks later, and so I took the gamble and asked for some vacation time from my job, so that I could dedicate myself to making these pieces amazing. I had never been looking to make millions of dollars from my art, but the dream was to be able to dedicate my life to it and make enough money that my family would be comfortable. 

The exhibition came, I showed off my work, Peter was amazing in showing the guests who I was and what I had done, and those four pieces sold before the exhibition was even over. Since then I have been getting a huge array of requests for pieces, so much so that I never went back to work after that vacation time and now I have achieved my dream of working as an artist and making enough money to give my daughter the life that I want. 

Peter completely changed my life, who says that you shouldn’t meet your heroes!