Selected Exhibitions
2023 Leaving Home, Solo show,
Fine Art Commissions Gallery, Ryder street, London
2022 Flowers, Solo show,
Richard Green Gallery, New Bond Street, London
2021 Persevere, Solo show,
Richard Green Gallery, New Bond Street, London
2021 50 Under 50, Group show,
Richard Green Gallery, New Bond Street, London
2019 Out of the Shadows, Group show,
54 Gallery, London
2019 The Heart of London,
The Scarsdale Tavern, London
Biography
Max Denison-Pender, b.1997, is a classically trained artist, based in London.
Born and raised in Santiago, Chile before spells in the wilds of Wiltshire and the foothills outside Barcelona. At a young age, Max has already achieved much professionally, and has begun to establish his style, making a mark on the Art world. Tutored at the age of thirteen by a direct descendant of the legendary, Spanish artist Joan Miró, before undertaking a three-year course at the London Atelier of Representational Arts (LARA), Max hosted his first sell-out solo exhibition, The Heart of London, at the young age of 21. Emboldened by early success and having caught the eye of globally renowned Richard Green Gallery, as well as the UK and international media, Max’s work has gone from strength to strength. He has attracted new patrons and noteworthy commissions with his works finding their way into many private collections in the US and UK.
In the last five years Max has made headlines as the first artist in three decades to gain access to paint the iconic exterior of 10 Downing Street. Commissions have followed to paint a series of the interiors of private members clubs: 5 Hertford Street and Oswald’s. In the run up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Max joined Team GB as their Artist in Residence and completed a series of studies and portraits of the UK competitors. Max was the first person granted ringside access to the Heavyweight championship boxer, Anthony Joshua, painting him in his gym during training camp. In 2024 Max was invited once more to join Team GB for the Paris Olympics, however, he controversially resigned from this role to protest at the BOC’s stance on the war in Ukraine.
In addition to painting sporting heroes, Max has painted portraits of everyday heroes such as the two Critical Care NHS nurses who were singled out by the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson for having saved his life. These portraits, which were painted from life, were proudly displayed in his office in No. 10.
Max’s wanderlust and curiosity for travel has grown over the years. In 2021 he caught the media’s attention with an impassioned application to go to outer space with Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa as part of the SpaceX / dearMoon Project. Keen to catch the Japanese adventurer’s attention, Max travelled to Reykjavik, Iceland with a media crew to set up his easel at the mouth of the active Fagradalsfjall volcano. Beside the flowing lava he painted his self-portrait, dressed as an astronaut. His media crew then filmed a drone flying the finished painting to certain destruction in the burning lava. The performance was later sold as an NFT.
In 2022, in preparation for his next exhibition, In One Leap (working title), Max headed into the heart of the Amazon Basin, accompanied by a film crew, to work and live alongside the Korubo Tribe, sketching and painting life in the jungle amongst the jaguars. Viewing the jungle “as one of the last truly wild places on Earth”, his forthcoming exhibition is set to capture “the full beauty, terror and dreamlike qualities” of this equally enchanting yet unpredictable landscape. The title of this series comes from the translation of the Native American word ‘yaguar’ meaning ‘he who kills with one leap’.
Always with an eye to capture life in the raw, last year saw Max became a de facto war artist, embedding himself for three weeks with a Ukrainian assault battalion on one of the fiercest fought parts of the frontline. Constantly subjected to continuous enemy shelling, Max painted 15 portraits which were exhibited at The Fine Art Commissions Gallery. All funds raised through the exhibition, called Leaving Home, went directly towards buying vital medical supplies to help save the lives of wounded troops.
On top of all of this, Max has formed a collective of like-minded artists from around the world who have a shared belief for the importance of creativity and untold stories: called Art in The Extreme. Keen to bring his art to the widest audience possible he fully grasps the potential of social media platforms, the use of documentary film crews and having a good relationship with traditional print and broadcast channels. To this end, Max and his team have released many YouTube videos for @ArtInTheExtreme, as well as 50 brand-new high-quality clips to be released in the run up to his new exhibition on his own channel, @ThatArtistMax.
On Max’s painting style
Max explains, “My preference for working in oil “alla prima” (wet on wet) is down to the paint’s slow drying time on the canvas; not only does this allow me to mix colours that won’t dry the minute I’ve made them; I can also work fast and confidently with good fresh, expressive brushstrokes, which in turn, offers me greater flexibility and opportunity to interpret what’s in front of me. Secondly, oil paint doesn’t dissolve in the lashing rain or cake up when the midday sun is beating down; this makes it the ideal medium for the extreme climates I too often find myself painting in.”
In the tradition of some of our most celebrated painters, Max is an advocate of painting “in situ” rather than from the comparative comfort of his studio. Whilst he embraces the classic medium of oil paints, rabbit skin canvases, easels and badger brushes, he is very much an artist of the times. Max’s ethos follows the James Thurber quote, “Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.” Though accolades and status are admirable, Max believes the beautiful things in life don’t ask for attention or pay too much tribute to rewards. Usually they go unseen and unnoticed, living their day to day lives in absence of a spotlight.
Whether it’s young men and woman on the front lines of Ukraine, nurses who were battling off the pandemic or indigenous communities in remote parts of the Amazon rainforest; these are where the beautiful characters can be found. And, despite this peripatetic existence, Max has enjoyed one constant in his life that has coursed through his veins from his earliest memories — his unflinching love of art and the firm belief that he was put on this planet to paint.
Notable Collectors:
Robin Birley, owner of 5 Hertford Street and Oswald’s private member clubs.
Piers Morgan, broadcaster, journalist and media personality.
James Blunt, singer, songwriter and musician.
