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Max’s imagery became wallpaper for the turn on, tune in, drop out generation. One of the most famous of all living artist's, Peter Max is also a pop culture icon. His bold colors, uplifting images and an uncommon artistic diversity have touched almost every phase of American culture and has inspired many generations.

“Peter Max’s ‘Top Cat’ highlights his highly original Graphic style. The artist juxtaposes vintage black-and-white photos with colorful ‘psychedelic’ patters that characterize the 1960s. Beginning with a blob of wet black ink, Max folded the paper to create a face-like mirror. Flopping and repeating the same side of the face, and placing photos in the negative spaces gives the figure a mysterious, sinister quality. Elements with dual meanings such as the cats’ faces and the bow tie/butterfly add to the surreal – or dreamlike- effect.” (Scholastic Art, Vol.36 No.4, Feb 2006)

Credit: Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection
 
"Max’s colorful, psychedelic graphics and flower-child characters famously captured 1960s counterculture.  “I got interested in yoga and mysticism and it influenced my drawings,” Max said.  “My characters, like young hippies, began flying and levitating across Himalayan mountains (from my childhood impressions) and star-studded galaxies (from my fascination with space exploration).  I began making posters of the drawings and blended the colors on a two-color printing press.  And that’s how my Cosmic '60s style developed.

A licensing bonanza soon followed, and Max skyrocketed to stardom as the products of his imagination were turned into bedspreads, household products, package design and posters that covered dorm room walls and San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury.  He appeared on magazine covers and talk shows, and The United States Postal Service commissioned him to create a 10-cent postage stamp to commemorate the Expo '74 World’s Fair.  Like Formica and polyester, his imagery became subconscious touchstones of American culture.” (tennessean.com)