Max Sharam
travels extensively, and her
imagination draws upon this unique
life experience and the people she
meets. Always in motion, her work
explores the constant quest of what
it means to 'fit' in and 'accept'.
Through a combination of
performance, video, art and music,
she challenges people to question
the idiosyncratic origins of their
opinions and the universality of
their awkwardness. With humor and
music and distinctive imagery, Max
chaperones the viewer/listener
through an emotional experience that
seeks to expose the vulnerable
underbelly while bringing her
audience to question the easy
answers they may have been raised to
trust. She attempts to break down
preconceptions and liberate people,
guiding them to their embrace of the
unknown.
Max Sharam, born
in Australia, is a musician and
artist in New York City &
Sydney. Her work has aired on
film and television, galleries and
festivals.
Max performed and produced the music
for AFI award winning documentary Forbidden
Lie$ which was
shown at MOMA
(Museum of Modern Art,
NY) in
February and has written, shot and
edited music videos and video
stories since getting hold of her
first camera in her teens. In
2008 Max was included in the Berlin
Film Festival
with her video piece 'Sleeping
Beauties', showing along side
Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno at
the Forum Expanded.
Max's video pieces and songs,
'Flying', 'Actor Girl' and 'Is
it Okay if i call you mine?'
featured in the innovative
installation
'29 Palms, CA'
as part of the Stefanie
Schneider exhibit shown
at
Galerie Spesshardt & Klein
in Berlin, Germany and in
Arles,
France in
summer 2008. Max has guest hosted
and performed on numerous television
shows and periodically stars in
stage musicals. In 2006 she was Jean
Lee in The Hanging of Jean Lee at
the Sydney Opera House Studio
Theatre. Her own one-woman
performance pieces have been part of
Melbourne International Comedy
Festival, Hong Kong Fringe Festival
and New York Arts Festival.
Her voice is
utterly captivating. She
conjures coloratura, she
purloins punk, her voice
liquefies love and emulsifies
emotion...
Captivating,
Eccentric, Powerful, Eclectic.
A 21st Century Diva
For
fans of Max Sharam no descriptions
are necessary. Plug into the
universal heartbeat, trust your
spirit, and walk boldly over the
horizon: that is Max.
Raised on a small
farm in Australia, in an area
called Musical Gully
(named for the sounds of
picks and shovels from the gold
rush era), Max came of age in an
atmosphere of wide open spaces
that imposed no bounds on her
imagination.
After graduating from
Arts College, Max brought her
guitar to Europe, where she sang,
wrote and performed her own
compositions in clubs &
theatres throughout.
While performing in
Florence, RAI News
Journalist/Producer Carlo Picone
invited Max to audition for, Forza
Venite Gente, a popular musical in
Rome, for which she landed a lead
role, allowing Max to work
alongside some of Italy’s greatest
talents, Silvio Spaccesi,
Oreste Lionello. The hit
musical played to full houses then
toured for two years.
Other Italian Theatre
productions readily engaged her,
notably Kolbe
directed
by the renowned Polish Film
Director - Krzysztof Zanussi. She
received the Star of the Year
award at Genoa’s Cole Porter
Festival, recorded a dance LP I’m
Occupied, and her story La
Ragazza con la Chitarra
was documented for RAI TV.
After a year in Japan
studying Taiko drums and fronting
a Japanese band in Hiroshima, Max
returned to Sydney.
Her acoustic spots at club
Kinselas attracted wide audiences
and critical acclaim.
In 1995 Max signed
with Warner Music. Later that year
Warner released her EP, Coma. A warped
celebration of revenge, humor, and
post-modern genre blending, Coma
hit
the top ten nationally and was
voted the 8th most popular song of
the year by Australia’s JJJ Radio
Network.
Her
follow-up album, A
Million Year Girl, elicited
a strong response from the press making the Top 30
and within months A Million
Year Girl goes platinum and
receives 8 ARIA Award nominations.
2010
Salem Castle,
Germany. Artists Residency
Program.
VIDEO
ART
2010 White
Walkabout
Mixed
Media
(work in progress)
2010 Zilch
von Klutz
Animation
(work in progress)
2010 FLUSH!
Mixed
Media
(ongoing)
2008 Sleeping
Beauties
Video
7
minutes.
2008 Grandwords
Mixed
Media 4 min
2007 DigiBio
Video
9
minutes
1995 Sleeping
Senses
Film 8mm, 10min.
1994 Crashlanding!
Film 8mm, 4 minutes.
1996 Is
it Okay if I call you mine?
Film 8mm, 4 minutes.
GROUP
GALLERY SHOWS
2010 Neue
Museum, Salem Schloss, Germany
2009 Titanic
Piano, Mopa,
San Francisco, USA
2009 Gay
Girls, Acon,
Sydney Mardi Gras, Australia
2008 Sleeping
Beauties, Berlin
Film Festival, Germany
2008 29
Palms, CA, Spesshardt
& Klein Gallery,
Berlin, Germany
2002 Be
Careful What You Draw, The
Electric Lodge
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
2002 Be
Careful What You Draw, Abbott
Kenney Street Festival, Los
Angeles, CA, USA
2002
Allegory
For Immature Adults, Electric
Ave Gallery, Venice Art Walk, Los
Angeles, USA
2002 Miscellaneous
Max, Hotel
Café, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1998 Charcoal,
D.U.M.B.O.
Art Festival - Brooklyn, NY, USA
COMMERCIALLY
RELEASED RECORDINGS
A
Million Year Girl
(1996)
LP/CD Warner Music
International, Platinum
Coma
(1995)
EP/CD
Warner Music International, Top
Ten Single
I’m
Occupied
(1985) LP/CD - CAM
(Italy)
MUSIC
FOR FILM
2007
Expired
- additional music
composer/producer/performer.
Multiple Wins
2006
Forbidden Lie$
-
producer/performer. Multiple Wins,
AFI (Best Documentary)
2001
Frozen Angels
-
producer/composer/performer
1999 The
Big Tease
- additional music
1998
Change of Heart
-
additional music/co-writer
1997 Die
Heilige Hure
- additional music
ONE
WOMAN SHOWS
2009 Songs
in my Suitcase
The Butterfly Club,
Melbourne, Australia
2005 Butterfly
Suicide
Hong
Kong
Fringe Festival, Hong Kong, China
2000 MadmoselleMax
Melbourne
International Comedy Festival
THEATRE
(principle roles only)
2009 Late
Night Lounge with Justin Bond
(NYC), Sydney Opera House Theatre,
Australia
2006 The
Hanging of Jean Lee – The Musical.
`Jean Lee`. Sydney Opera House
Theatre
2006
Penthesilea, The Dahesh Museum of
Art, New York City, USA
2006
Rooftop Cabaret Performance
Troupe, New York City, USA
2002 The
Camera, The Electric Lodge, Los
Angeles, California, USA
1994
Fourplay, Darlinghurst Players
Theatre Troupe
1990 The
Magic Flute,
`Papagena`, Sydney Light
Opera Company, Australia
1985
Forza Venite Gente, Teatro
Bagaglino, Rome, Italy
1984
Kolbe, Teatro Il Barrocone, Rome,
Italy
1983
Jesus Christ Superstar,
`Magdalena`, Ballarat Theatre
Workshops.
1982
Tilly Divine, `Pealie`, Ballarat
Theatre Workshops.
1982
Zigger Zagger, Ballarat Youth
Theatre.
FILM/TV
(principle roles)
Spicks
& Specks
(2009) ABC
TV, Australia
One Size
Fits All
(2005)
Short Film, School Visual
Art, New York, USA
Jazz
Nights
(1998) Lifetime
Television, USA
Rakuda
Short, Australia
BIG BIG
BANG!
SBS
Television. Australia
La
Ragazza Con La Chitarra
RAI
TV
(Italy)
Hey Hey
It’s Saturday
Variety
TV (Australia)
The Bert
Newton Show
Variety
TV
(Australia)
Elle
McFeast
ABC TV (Australia)
Good News
Week
ABC TV (Australia)
BOOKS/ANTHOLOGOIES
2010
Zilch von Klutz
(pre
production)
2005
Stirring Up A Storm
Mammoth Books, USA
2003
Allegory For Immature Adults
Independent,
USA
2002
Big Night Out
Harper
Collins,
Australia
1999
Pizza Poetry
Darlinghurst
Writers
Collective
SPECIAL
AWARDS
1996 x8
Aria Nominations - Winner Aria
Award – Best Album Art Work
1986 Queen
of Comedy, Harold
Park Hotel, Sydney, New South
Wales
1984 Star
of the Year, Genoa
Jazz Festival, Italy.
1980s x3
General Academic Excellence
Awards, Beaufort High School,
Victoria
1980s x3
Musical Comedy 1st
Place - South Street Eisteddfod,
Ballarat, Victoria
AFFILIATIONS
Screen
Actors Guild (USA), Actors Equity
(USA), APRA (Australia)
PRIVATE
TUTORS
Classical
Singing
– Robert Bickerstaff,
Robert Lemke/Constance Coward,
Opera Australia
– W.H. Keith Young - Sounds
of Sunday Choir, Ballarat, Vic.
Voice and
Piano
– Tad Motyka, New York
City, USA.
EDUCATION
Graduate
Diploma ~ A.I.M Centre for
Animation & Ineractive Media
(RMIT), Advanced Diploma Screen
& Media (RMIT),
Graduate Certificate ~ Animation
Direction - Australian Film,
Television & Radio School
(AFTRS),
Diploma ~ Digital &
Interactive Media - Enmore
Centre of Design.
OTHER
After
Effects, ADOBE Creative Suite CS5,
Powerpoint, Flash, Microsoft
Office, Speed Typist.
Languages
- Fluent Italian. Basic German.
Passive French.
