Max Middlewood

Max Middlewood’s unique painting style creates its own mini universe, filled with emotion and intensity. There is often a mix of serious, thought provoking subject matter with humour and irony. His work is mainly created with oil paint but he also uses other medium, including fabric, acrylic, spray paint and the occasional piece his own hair.

Originally used as a way to cope with physical and mental illness, his work explores everything he experiences, incorporating figuration, symbolism, text and abstraction, all mashed together to form a sense of organised chaos.

“I started painting as a way to give myself a purpose during a time of chronic physical distress. It consumed me very easily and quickly became my one and only way of expressing my feelings and what I was experiencing.

I now use my art process as a way to navigate the world around me and as a kind of self-therapy, like writing an ‘art diary’. Living with a personality disorder can often be hard to express with words, so my paintiings are the best way I can communicate my internal turmoil. I use the canvas to bridge the gap between the chaotic mental landscape, the dreamscape and reality.

My art depicts the constant cycle of emotions that I go through during particular intense periods of my condition.”

Infinite Stream of Consciousness 2 mixed media on canvas, 18 x 24”

Infinite Stream of Consciousness 6 mixed media on canvas, 18 x 24”

Bitter Better mixed media on canvas, 16 x 20”

I’m Trying Myself