Born in New York, Max Finkelstein graduated from trade school as a qualified machinist during the Depression and went on to hold positions "in machine shops in all categories of the industry, with many type of metals and plastics." By 1954 he had moved to Los Angeles and there, he says, he began building sculptures in his garage. Over the next six years he studied at a number of art schools: UCLA, the California School of Art, the Kahn Art Institute, Los Angeles City College, and the Sculpture Center in New York. "I first started carving in wood, then welding," he writes. "The created works were based on biblical themes, fossil forms and images from nature. I began utilizing twenty five years of machine shop experience in 1963, the next phase of my art … I looked for a pure image that is derived from modern materials. To me, machined aluminum reflects the spirit of our times, the computer, the automated product, and the poetry of space." He envisions the viewer as "the kinetic force activating the elements of color and dynamics in the composition of the works."