Named after John Henry’s grandson, this piece was originally conceived  in 1989 and begun on John’s mountain top studio in Honeybee, Kentucky. Big Max had a few growing pains, with the artist feeling that the work was unresolved for a number of years. It was not until it was moved to Chattanooga that work started again on the piece. Big Max’s  final configuration of large tubes with visible connector systems stretching out across the landscape is a definite nod to Henry’s massive sprawling constructions of the 70s.The work was first exhibited in Chattanooga, TN as part of the Arts Moves on Main exhibition. Big Max served as a catalyst for the revival of historic Main street in downtown Chattanooga and became an icon for the newly forming arts district. Big Max  was disassembled and sent to Tampa for The Peninsula Project and is now installed in MacDill Park on the Riverwalk along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa. Big Maxwas the only horizontally oriented work in the exhibition.  Rather than stretching up towards the sky, the piece crawls seventy feet across the ground. The Tampa Museum of Art, The City of Tampa and Parks and Recreation were instrumental in bringing Big Max to MacDill Park.