Max van Eck

The artist

Practice and perspective

Max van Eck makes collages that bring Celtic and Germanic or Norse legends into contact with contemporary experience. His images use a personal language of symbols, inviting viewers to form their own readings rather than follow a single narrative.

Stories and poems accompany some works, connecting his visual practice with writing. Through Terra-Creative, he offers signed, numbered archival editions; his Otherworld portfolios explore myth and fairy tale, while Prelude considers relationships with nature.

His interest in narrative extends beyond illustration. In his artist statements, van Eck describes the visual and literary worlds as connected ways of examining symbolic and allegorical experience. Some accompanying texts grew from his bardic study with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, giving the work a specific connection to the revival of Celtic thought.

His publication Book of Shadows (and Light) brings collages together with poetry, prose and titles. Published in 2026, the book develops a nonlinear encounter with memory, myth and recurring cycles. Van Eck also distinguishes the archival editions he prints himself from reproductions offered in other sizes and materials, making the relationship between the digital file and the physical print part of his practice.

2023

Exhibited collages at ’t Kunstuus, Heinkenszand, 3 May–3 June.

Studio 54 Fine Art

Works including Ondine and Italian Dream are listed by the gallery on Artnet.