Max Taling

Max Taling

In 1984, Moscow unveiled itself to me like a reflection in a cracked-mirror amalgam, with a powdered, unshaven face
...the cries of charlatans and indifferent stray dogs.
I was stunned.
Fear. Drunken figures sleeping directly on the sidewalks. Many cripples on the streets and stern old women in the churches. Graves of Russian tsars. And a swarm of golden snowflakes around the street lamps.

My works should be understood as a religious ecstasy akin to that of the old Italian masters. Bodies fall and languish, attaining a new state, a new life in the vibrant darkness of the background. Figures transform into symbols, my own alphabet, to create new words in place of those that have exhausted all meaning and strength.
The choice of blue color is made for the restlessness of perception. The paintings are meticulously crafted, allowing them to be observed up close and from a distance. They can be scrutinized under bright light or in semi-darkness.
I personally refer to my style as suggestive.

FINE RAIN (Series FILM COMPOSITIONS) 2025, 48х85, cardboard, pencil

Dunes by the Baltic Sea. Landscapes, background – it is always Pärnu, my hometown in Estonia by the sea.

A HORSE WITH A GLASS CROWN AND BURNING CANDLES ON ITS HEAD CAME UP AND QUIETLY KISSED THE MAN`S KNEE (Portrait of Eva Pashkovskaya)

2025, 59,5 х 46, cardboard, pencil

MEDUSA GORGON (Series RELIGIOUS) 2025, 68х95 cardboard, pencil

Medusa Gorgon was a beautiful girl having beautiful hair. The god Poseidon, having turned into a bird, chased after her and took possession of her in the temple of the goddess Athena. For this, the angry goddess turned the girl's hair into a serpent and her face into a mask that turned all living things to stone. My painting depicts the unfortunate Medusa, the god Poseidon and the hero Perseus, who cut off her head at the same time.

AUTUMN BALL (Mati Unt - Estonian writer) (Series POSTERS) 2025, 67,5,х95, cardboard, pencil

This book has warmed me all my life.

PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDRA SEMENIKHINA 2025, 58х46,5, cardboard, pencil

Hat on the table, forgotten gloves..., drops of wax and a shadow on the glass

GLASS ISLAND (Series THE BATHERS OF THE CITY OF PÄRNU – Sгк-Suur-Kuke street, 64)

2025, 55х99, cardboard, pencil

BACKSLIDER (Series FILM COMPOSITIONS)

2025, 37х55,5 cardboard, pencil

PORTRAIT OF TIMOFEY KAMCHATOV 2024 (2025), 68х69,5 pencil, cardboard

Behind a brocade curtain a darkness falling and a harlequin in a blood-red camisole

A GOLDEN ARROW ON A PLATTER CALLED THE BLOOD TRIAL (Portrait of Georgy Kamchatov)

2024 (2025), 68х69, pencil, cardboard

LOVERS (Series FILM COMPOSITIONS)

2024, 54х81, pencil, cardboard

SLOW MOTION (Series THE BATHER OF THE CITY OF PÄRNU – Supeluse street, 10) 2024 49,5х97,5 pencil, cardboard

Power lines running across the canvas pierce my actresses. On whom nerves and veins are drawn on the skin.

PORTRAIT OF AGLAYA KOTOVA 2024, 66х70,5, pencil, cardboard

Rowan beads with glittering ice flakes

PORTRAIT OF ANTON KORZHANOVSKY 2024, 59х47, pencil, cardboard

A window swaying in the wind with a glimmering reflection of the sunset

SPIDER`s PRISONERS (Series CHILDREN IN RED) 2024, 54х81, pencil, cardboard

Painted gilt early twentieth century. Antique cane. Dressy vintage shoes, dried out to a small size. A silk cap and a change into Bukhara trousers. Junker uniform and the fur coat of a universally forgotten undead singer.

A TORCHMAN DANCING IN A RAT-CATCHING OFFICE.

2024, 67,5х97,5, pencil, cardboard

THE POWER OF FIRE (Portrait of Polina Gorbacheva)

2024, 67,5х98, pencil, cardboard

PORTRAIT OF SERGEI OVSYANNIKOV 2024, 67,5х59,5, pencil, cardboard

An antique armchair in the thickening twilight. Rumble of thunder.

ANGEL OF MY DEATH (Series THE FEATHER ETUDE)

2024, 68х97, pencil, cardboard

PURPLE MERIDIAN (FALLEN MAN)(Series THE BATHER OF THE CITY OF PÄRNU – Liiva street, 22) 2024, 44x98, pencil, cardboard

Contemplations of sensuality. To see eroticism in my work is as vulgar as the beautiful statues of ancient Greece. The figures do not go into perspective quite evenly. In this way I have protected myself from a naive naturalism.

PURIFICATION FROM FILTH (Series RED ARMY SOLDIERS)

2023, 67,5х98,5, cardboard, pencil.

OLD LIGHTHOUSE (Series FILM COMPOSITIONS). 2022, 48,5х98,5 cardboard, pencil

Series FILM COMPOSITIONS pays homage to the French New Wave, and Polish, Czech and Hungarian cinema of the 60s. The work seems to snatch a frame from the moving stream.

CURTAIN LACE SHADOW (Portrait of Georgy Kamchatov)

2022, 67,5х72, cardboard, pencil

MIRROR BOX WITH A BLOOD DROP (Series CHILDREN IN RED) 2023, 67,5х98, cardboard, pencil.

The series about mummers. A person’s demoniac transformations. It only seems to us like a masquerade.

LEMON SPRING GHOST (Portrait of Lyuda Babaeva)

2022, 68х71, сardboard, pencil

INDECENT SONG OF SALOME (Series FILM COMPOSITIONS) 2023, 57х98, сardboard, pencil.

New Testament plot. For Salome's charming dance, King Herod promised her any request. Her request was the head of John the Baptist.

CHARACTERS DISAPPEARANCE (Series PAINTINGS) 2022, 68x98, сardboard, pencil.

The horizon in multi-figure paintings is elevated, emphasizing even more the artificiality of the action, where characters are as if on a stage.

RAIN KNOCKS AND KNOCKS ON THE BOTTOM OF A FORGOTTEN CRYSTAL GLASS (Portrait of Timofey Kamchatov)

2022, 67,5х72, cardboard, pencil

SNOW IN A DREAM. (Portrait of Elizabeth Isaeva )

2023, 68х98 сardboard, pencil

RECONQUERED GLOW (Portrait of Yana Smirnova)

2022, 59 х 66, сardboard, pencil

UNFREE FALL (Series PAINTINGS)

2022, 68х98, сardboard, pencil

GIRL FROM THE BUS STOP (8-985-365-45-82)

2016, 66х83, сardboard, pencil

REVOLTING CIRCUS FOLK (Series PAINTINGS)

2023, 67х97,5 сardboard, pencil

HOMELESS SUN (Portrait of Sasha Smirnova)

2023, 67,5х79, cardboard, pencil

ANDRZEJ STASJUK. POLISH WRITER . (Series POSTERS) 2023, 67х95, сardboard, pencil.

Andrzej Stasiuk. Contemporary writer. Not lacking in the golden dewdrops of Great Polish art.

THE KISS (Series RED ARMY SOLDIERS)

2022 68x98,5 сardboard, pencil.

PORTRAIT OF GAYANE 2022, 67x98, cardboard, pencil

Gayane Ambartsumyan. Wife. My muse, my blood, my groan. Saving from madness and internal fire.

TENDER RED ARMY SOLDIERS (Series RED ARMY SOLDIERS) 2022, 65х96, cardboard, pencil.

Decorative forms of elongated triangular coats. Figures -swaying and falling like bowling pins. Strips on the chest are called CONSERVATIONS and also decorate a playful scene with no obligations.

NIGHT - ORPHAN (Series PAINTINGS) 2021, 68х98, cardboard, pencil

The figures in my paintings are frozen, like characters from the Del Arte puppet theater. Where everyone knows in advance who each character represents on the small stage of a street theater.

KAMCHATOV`S BROTHERS (Series PORTRAITS) 2021, 67х69, cardboard, pencil

Brothers Timofey and Georgiy. My wife's godsons. Gentle and pure boys.

EMPRESS CATHERINE THE GREAT (Series POSTERS)

2021, 68х98, cardboard, pencil

TANYA SALNIKOVA (Series POSTERS)

2021, 68х57, cardboard, pencil

KEEPER OF THE FLAME (Portrait of Alexandra Novikova)

2019, 66х75, pencil, cardboard

EMPTINESS MOVEMENT (Series PAINTINGS) 2019, 62х91, pencil, cardboard

Fractured firmament, falling people, taken out of a state of contemplation. Рeople for whom it's time to feel the world of the spirits of the Underworld.

REVOLT DREAM (Series JEANS) 2019, 67х88, pencil, cardboard

It is a pseudo-religious painting.

PORTRAIT OF VIKA 2021, 67х73, cardboard, pencil

Patterns on the faces reveal invisible power lines to the ordinary eye. Like mercury, they shimmer. Like the hidden force of fire playing in smoldering embers.

BATHERS (Series BATHERS) 2019, 67х92, cardboard, pencil

The leisure theme, as if on an ancient fresco, is turned into a Tragedy. Into a close feeling of an impending catastrophe. Where the Heavens collapse, and where a person is confused and exposed.