The story so far
Hi! My name is Max, and I'm a full-time artist living in Perth, Australia, currently specialising in oil painting.
I've had a unique creative journey so far.
It began in Tokyo, where my family relocated from Perth when I was a young boy. Here, I was exposed to art almost everywhere and I immediately took a liking to it.
My first real taste was in pottery and painting with water-colours. ​
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On my family’s return to Perth, I took Art as a subject in high school. It continued to interest me, and I thought Art would be a good balance to my more ‘serious subjects’.
At this point, living in the coastal suburb of City Beach, I was heavily influenced by David Hockney’s paintings of LA swimming pools, as well as the style of Edward Hopper. I then began oil painting, and started painting swimming pools within suburban Australian landscapes.
Taking Art ended up being a good decision because I managed to finish school with the top grade, and that grade assured me entry into law school, which I decided to pursue on the advice of pretty much everyone.
Despite my decision, I was encouraged to continue to paint when I found out my final school artwork was selected for (and used to advertise) an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
During law school I continued to paint.
In fact I painted so much that I created my first solo exhibition which I hosted in August 2020.
I graduated from university in 2022 and landed a job at a law firm.
Even though I was working long hours I still painted. Most weekends and sometimes even in the mornings before work. It was a sweet release.
Over a period of 12-months I created ‘For the Love of Something’ (see below), completed in September 2024. Up to that point, I'd never spent so much time and taken so much care on a single piece of work.
Things started to happen. Bigger commissions and opportunities came through, but importantly, I realised that to continue to grow as an artist I had to commit more time to it.
So I made a plan to quit my job as a lawyer and paint full-time.
Since May 2025, that’s what I've been doing.
I’m taking on commissions, and creating a body of work to have another exhibition and present my work to you in person.
Thanks for reading and please reach out! I hope you can connect with my work.
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Max
