Max considers his single bar and double bar paintings of the 1970s to be his first mature works. He began them when he moved to New York and settled into his studio on the Lower Bowery in 1974. He says: “I was thinking about tantric Indian art, about Borobudur, about Malevich, and I was thinking about Barnett Newman and Burgoyne Diller, and I was thinking about single bar at centre and double bar at the sides. […] Double bar, space between. Space between two conditions, two people, two states, dualism – dualism is […] firmly embedded in my work – dualism, state of two, a bridge between two.” (Max Gimblett: Ocean Wheel 1 August – 15 November 2020)