MISSOULA — Although you have almost definitely seen his art around his hometown of Missoula, you probably have not heard his name.
Max Mahn is the mystery man creating many of the iconic posters that fill concert merchandise stands in the summer.
"I kind of just hide in my garage and don't show my face around, and people don't see my face when the poster is up there,” Mahn said. “I'm just the secret guy behind the poster, I guess."
Under the name Twin Home Prints, Mahn makes limited edition screen prints, from gig posters to art prints to stickers. He has made posters for some of the nation's biggest musicians, including Modest Mouse, Tyler Childers, Death Cab for Cutie, Dave Matthews Band and many more.
“I’m definitely a big music person, art person. I never thought like 'Oh, I need to mash these two together and do this,' but that just kind of happened and it works pretty well,” he said.
It all started with screen printing, back when Mahn was a Sentinel student and became all about the music in college. Mahn studied art at the University of Montana, where a professor showed him books of gig posters.
"I just kind of fell into trying to make like my own stickers in high school. It just kept rolling,” he said. “ I wouldn't even call it a side gig. I mean, I would print a bunch of posters for my friend's bands. Go to the shows, maybe trade posters for a beer. I wouldn't make any money off of them at all."
Now, Mahn makes gig posters as a full-time career, including for some of the bands he listened to growing up.
Even though he sells posters nationally, his hometown’s influence is clear in his work.
"I feel like I know Missoula. I was born and raised here. Even if I'm not a fly fisherman, I know people like fly fishing,” he said. “People like Billy Strings, if he's coming, he's a big fisherman. Why not tie the two together in some way?” So I do like creating for local shows, because I can reference things like that, like the Clearwater cow."
He works out of his Missoula home, where none of his work hangs on the walls and the garage is converted to a studio. He tries to bring the same hometown efforts to posters for concerts far beyond his garage.
“Even if I do a show somewhere else, I try to talk to people who are local to that area to be like ‘What's a hidden gem?’” Mahn said. “It’s cool to be like ‘Oh, Wilco’s gonna reference something about our small town in their artwork.’ It makes the show feel a little more special.”
