INFINITE ARTS

Max Lemaire

Artist and owner at Infinite Arts Gallery

“To paint a moment I’ve experienced, I decode what I’m seeing into color, shapes, and patterns. Light travels through layers upon layers of pigment absorb and reflect light back to your eyes. That creates the illusion of depth, texture and natural light in my paintings.”

Paintings begin with inspiration. Really seeing the moment, taking notes on particular color shades, and even planning my paint layers at the scene. From there, I use a careful process of drafting the composition and planing the scale and color palette.

The paintings are built slowly, using traditional layering and glazing techniques refined over thirty years of practice. Thin, translucent layers of pigment are applied one at a time, each one allowed to cure before the next is added. It is a process that cannot be rushed — each layer absorbs and reflects light differently, and it is the accumulation of those layers that creates the depth and luminosity that makes the work feel alive rather than flat. What appears to be a single tone in the cliffs of Na Pali is often the result of a dozen or more layers built up over weeks.

Detail is earned, not assumed. Tiny brushes, patient observation, and a willingness to spend four hundred hours on a single painting when it asks for that. The complexity you see up close — the intricacy of moving water, the texture of ancient rock, the subtle gradations of light through mist — is the result of that commitment to process.

Only archival-quality materials are used throughout. The paintings are built to last generations.

Every frame in the Infinite Arts collection is designed and built by hand in the artist’s workshop — conceived as the painting nears completion, not chosen from a catalog afterward. The question is always the same: what wood, what proportion, what texture will create the right transition from the painting's world into the room it will inhabit?

The answer is different every time. Koa and Curly Maple for the warm luminosity of the Kalalau Cathedrals. Quilted Maple for Ehukai, its rippling grain echoing the movement of the mist. Local Milo and flame-charred Redwood for Edge of the World — burned, sanded, until the wood mirrors the landscape.

The same unhurried approach that goes into the paintings goes into the frames. Traditional and experimental joinery, hand-selected timber, multi-coat hand-rubbed oil finishes that bring out the full depth of the grain. No shortcuts, no rushing. Done right, both the painting and frame will last centuries.

VISIT THE GALLERY

Infinite Arts Gallery is located in the heart of Hanalei Town on the North Shore of Kauaʻi. This location has been Max’s gallery and working studio for the past 10 years.

The space is intimate by design. Track-lit originals line the walls, prints are available to browse.

See the paintings in person — there’s nothing like standing in front of an original and letting it transport you.

Open Tuesday – Sunday · 11am – 7pm

5-5190 Kuhio Hwy · Behind Na Pali Properties · Hanalei, HI 96714

Private showings available by appointment.