MAX WADE
MAX WADE
DODGE AND BURN
MAYA FRODEMAN GALLERY
DODGE AND BURN
Dodge and Burn, Max Wade’s first solo exhibition with Maya Frodeman Gallery and in the US, presents twelve oil paintings which further expand on his autobiographical painting practice and demonstrate his growing interest in technique and materiality. Rooted in representation, Wade’s paintings are imagined landscapes in flux, where forms emerge and dissolve within fields of color and texture, resisting objective interpretation. Titled after the analog photography technique of “dodging and burning,” which is used during the darkroom process to physically manipulate the exposure of subjects separate from their environment in photographic prints, Dodge and Burn nods to Wade’s painting process. In his practice in which planes interchange and motifs are obscured, Wade has his own physical process of manipulation and interruption as he applies and removes paint with an array of unconventional tools to create depth, texture, and a sense of ambiguity that invites the viewer into an ever-evolving dialogue with the work. Wade writes in his artist statement, “This creates an unfamiliar space yet contains recognizable elements, built in paint and dreamt from memories. The kind you see as you wake at 3am.”
Wade consciously strives for ambiguity in his works. He cultivates paintings that ask questions of the viewers, striking up a conversation, rather than attempting to give answers. Despite this ambiguity, his works remain firmly grounded in the real world. Wade pulls his subjects from his everyday life and travels, as he is drawn especially to overlooked spaces, with a sustained focus on the liminal areas inbetween objects as he often builds forms from negative space rather than the subjects themselves. His process begins with his sketchbook drawings, which are both a conscious exercise and a tool for his practice. These drawings are airy networks of relations, shapes cast by suspended encounters, rather than detailed documentation of Wade’s day-to-day life. From these representational drawings, Wade gathers new forms and spatial relations to work from. After further exploring and synthesizing these forms through further drawing and repetition, Wade takes his harvest to large-scale canvases, first drawing with
charcoal and then rapidly applying the oil in washes of pigment. As he pushes, pulls, scrapes and jabs his medium, most often layering wet paint on wet paint, his work blooms as he adds elements from other drawings to create a patchwork of distilled experience. “I often think of the drawings as like the skeleton of the piece, their structure that then all the other elements, like rhythm, speed, emotion, color, then hang onto. I draw with charcoal how a sculptor would use an armature, making a wire model and then adding clay and plaster bandages, building up the form,” Wade illustrates. Wade’s practice of addition and subtraction is intuitive as he works between many paintings at once. These pieces unfold over months and even years, as with works Steeplechase (2020-2024) and Diving (2020-2024).
Wade’s style is marked by sweeping, gestural brushstrokes indicative of his process-driven approach and his deep engagement with the act of painting itself. Often taking on a large scale, Wade invokes the physical style of Abstract Expressionists like Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Grace Hartigan, as well as contemporaries like Amy Sillman. Wade’s brushstrokes develop a textural presence as they dance across the physical surface of his canvas. Citing de Kooning and Philip Guston as inspiration for their commitment to evolving their practice throughout their career, Wade similarly challenges himself through experimentation. In his growing investigation in materiality and technique, Wade has expanded his physical materials and tools far beyond the humble paintbrush, bringing objects like industrial spatulas and squeegees into his practice regularly. Wade states, “I like trying to push the limits of this seemingly quite simple material.”
Wade’s use of a bright and saturated palette contributes to his works’ undeniable joyous, emphatic quality. His works are defined by the lyrical tension between these colors, textures and suggested subjects. It is a tension that isn’t so much resolved as channeled, by means of repetition, adaptation and restatement, into a rewarding vitality. Foothills (2024) exemplifies Wade’s use of a dense, layered application of paint that recalls the techniques of Abstract Expressionists. The composition is dynamic, with vigorous brushstrokes that lend to a complex interplay of colors. The palette here is more subdued and earthy, with greens, yellows, and muted blues dominating the canvas. The colors blend and
overlap, creating a sense of depth and movement. The brushwork is varied—some areas are thickly painted, almost impasto, while others are thinner, allowing underlayers to show through. This textural richness beckons the viewer to explore the painting’s active surface. Mirror (2022) features a brighter, more saturated palette with soft pastels punctuated by lines. Wade’s brushwork is looser and more fluid here, with sweeping gestures that suggest a spontaneity and immediacy. The use of black interrupts the composition and guides the eye. In Mirror, a pulsing rhythm leads the movement, as this work is less guided by the layering of paint and more defined by the dynamic interplay of more diaphanous forms. Wade is also concerned with the physicality of the painting process, especially at a large scale. The vestigial movement, rhythm, and energy are ever-present and lend to dynamic, expressive paintings which pulsate with life, inviting viewers into a space where lived experience and abstraction converge. Wade explores the performative quality scale adopts with the viewer. Each work’s pace and mood is largely set by music, another tool central to Wade’s practice. A combination of styles and genres, from frantic jazz to repetitive minimalist compositions, music paces and invigorates the physicality of his studio practice.
Max Wade was born in 1985 in London. Wade studied Fine Art Painting at Brighton University. Wade’s recent solo exhibitions include ‘Dodge and Burn’, Maya Frodeman Gallery, Jackson Hole, USA; ‘Go Bang’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK ‘Whisper Down the Lane’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2021; ‘Sowing the Soil with Salt’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2020; ‘Platform: London’, hosted by David Zwirner (online), 2020; ‘Wind for the Sails’, Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury, 2020; ‘Between the Dog and the Wolf’, Sid Motion Gallery, London, 2019; ‘For Tina’, curated by Roxie Warder hosted at Cob Gallery, London, 2019. Recent group exhibitions have included ‘Across the Pond: Contemporary Painting in London’, curated by Emma Fineman, Eric Firestone Gallery, 2024; ‘Searching Minds’, Sid Motion Gallery, London; ‘New Abstractions’, Informality Gallery, Cromwell Place, London; ‘Abstract Colour’, Marlborough Gallery, 2023; and ‘ Stand with Ukraine’, Hales Gallery, London. His residencies include Artist’s Workshop & Exchange, Muscat, Oman in 2013. Wade lives and works in London.
FOOTHILLS , 2024
74 3/4 x 63 inches
Oil on linen
63 x 47 1/4 inches
SOARING , 2024
Oil on linen
DIVING , 2020-2024
51 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches
Oil on linen
I SAW PHARAOH LEVITATE , 2020-2024
51 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches
Oil on linen
STEEPLECHASE , 2020-2024
51 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches
Oil on linen
FIREFLIES , 2024
47 1/4 x 37 1/2 inches
Oil on linen
CHURCH OF CLOWNS , 2024
47 1/4 x 37 1/2 inches
Oil on linen
COOKING WITH GAS , 2021
Oil on panel
24 3/4 x 32 3/8 inches
SWEET TOOTH , 2023
Oil on linen
39 x 25 inches
35 3/8 x 27 1/2 inches
MIRROR , 2022
Oil on linen
VIEW FROM THE WINDOW , 2022
38 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches
Oil on linen
WARP AND WEFT , 2023
70 7/8 x 51 1/8 inches
Oil on canvas
MAX WADE
British artist, born in London, UK in 1985
Lives and works in London
EDUCATION
Studied Fine Art Painting at Brighton University Foundation at City of Bath College
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Dodge and Burn, Maya Frodeman Gallery, Jackson Hole, USA
2023 Go Bang, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK
2021 Whisper down the lane, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK
2020 Sowing the soil with salt, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK
Platform: London, presented by Sid Motion Gallery for David Zwirner online Wind for the Sails, Messums Gallery, Wiltshire
2019 Between the dog and the wolf, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK
For Tina, Cob gallery, London, UK
2016 Fat on Lean, Roz Barr Gallery, London, UK
2015 Tabula Rasa, The Annexe, London, UK
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Across the Pond: Contemporary Painting in London, curated by Emma Fineman, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, USA
Searching Minds, Sid Motion Gallery, London, UK
New Abstractions, Informality Gallery, Cromwell place, London, UK
2023 Abstract Colour, curated by Lewis Dalton Gilbert Marlborough Gallery, London, UK
2022 Stand with Ukraine, Hales Gallery, London, UK
2019 A tapered teardrop, Terrace Gallery, London, UK
Material: Wood, Messums Gallery, Wiltshire, UK
Generation Y, Platform foundation, London, UK
Print & Editions, Kobi & Teal gallery, Frome, Somerset, UK
2018 Collection poinit, Kobi & Teal gallery, Frome, Somerset, UK
2016 Costermungering, Belmacz Gallery, London, UK
Royal Academy Summer Show, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK
2015 A Bestiary, Turf Projects, Croydon, UK
Creekside Open, curated by Richard Deacon, A.P.T Gallery, London, UK
2014 Pentimenti, Maybe a Vole Gallery, London, UK
2013 End of residency show, Gasworks and Triangle Network, Muscat, Oman
2012 Max Wade Works on Paper, Fieldwork Gallery, London, UK
System of Objects, Departure foundation, London, UK
Bite Print Prize, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2011 Weird Folk, Field Work Gallery, London, UK
2010 The London Print Fair, exhibiting with Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Royal Academy of art, London, UK
New Paintings from Max Wade and Betsy Dadd, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel, Sussex, UK
2009 And It’s Time, Time, Time That You Love, Terrace Gallery, London, UK
2008 Recent Paintings: Max Wade and Anna Lsley, Et Cetera Gallery, London, UK
Never Was There So Much Wasted Wine, So Many Dead Flowers, Terrace Gallery, London, UK
Black Swan Open Arts, Black Swan Gallery, Rook Lane Chapel, Frome, Somerset, UK
2007 Lovely, Lovely, Grey Area Gallery, Brighton, UK
2006 You May Feel Paint, Brighton University, Brighton, UK
2004 The Butterfly Effect, Bath, UK
RESIDENCIES
2013 Residences include Artist’s workshop & Exchange, Muscat, Oman
2003 Sofia, Bulgaria
