About Scott Maxwell Art

I am a South Australian artist born in Adelaide, where I still reside today. I studied art at TAFE. I've been painting for most of my life. I am a full time painter. I suffer from chronic pain, this is a very large, but not entire influence on my art. Painting helps to give life more substance and meaning, for both myself and the viewers and collectors. I believe there are many mysteries in life that can only be attained through a creative artistic process. Art is a mysterious story with many coloured layers and textured intrigue built on to the surface of the canvas. Art should be a question not an easy answer. Questions are an opportunity, an opening to possibilities especially when they are coming from the deeper consciousness, free from the restraints of logical thought. Answers and definitions are a closing off of those questions and possible connections.

I try to not have too much of an idea of what I am going to paint when I sit at the easel, but I do seem to have some recurring themes and styles. They range from fiery intensely coloured artworks filled with heat that represent what's at my core, Stormy dark paintings and muted more earthy tones. I enjoy creating organic surfaces and often these paintings resemble organisms, cells and their environment. These works often represent or are questions about my own mortality as i get older and our very deep connection to the earth we live on. There are also many connections to what happens as a result of chronic pain, what's going on via receptors in the brain, message pathways and chemical reactions, triggers and relief. Change and the ability for things to become something else is a big inspiration, this shows in many different ways. Yet It's really all about the process. Working the materials, creating a surface with texture and depth. During that process the subconscious is accessed and a mystery plays out. Something ephemeral yet with deep connections is revealed and can be worked through and manipulated on the canvas. What the finished creation is becomes somewhat less important to the artist, the process is where it's at, that's my part of the therapy, the learning process.

When people think about how an artwork was made or wonder what it is about it that attracts them, it's a glimpse of the learning and often healing process that the artist went through to create it. There's an opportunity there, something may speaks to you, you may not hear it, but, a thin thread might be there. Without this mystery there is little to interest the artist viewer and collector. Of course art is also to be enjoyed by people, intense colour and design are also important factors. These things bring us more immediate pleasure.