Max White (b 1998) is a London based contemporary realism painter. His work draws inspiration from tonalism, realism, and impressionism and aims to produce technically proficient paintings that feel current in their style and subject. His aim is to capture harmony and beauty in candid compositions of urban and natural settings with atmospheric works exploring tension, and melancholy. His process includes his understanding of analog photography to generate emotionally compelling reference images akin to memories which he then takes into the studio to paint in his style.
Painting in oils, his paintings begin with a reductive layer where paint is applied to canvas, then removed with non traditional tools such as rags, ink rollers, and squeegees. Once this has dried, he begins a more traditional representational painting combining loose impressionistic techniques and finer detailed areas of paint to best draw the eye into the key areas of the composition. As a self taught artist, he studies atmosphere and colour through plein air sketches in the field, these are then scrutinised in his studio as a learning tool alongside his studio work.