The paintings of Max Mueller are the result of the artist’s urgent, spontaneous need to immediately capture a certain scene or image.
“I’ve used painting in the same impulsive way you take a phone photo of a special moment, without intent or a complicated motive,” he says. “I’m only interested in the essence of a moment at this time in my life. I feel I don’t have the time to philosophise on painting.”
Hobart-based Mueller’s In the Sticks exhibition at Handmark features oil-on-linen works that show tranquil scenes of Tasmania: seascapes and landscapes alongside several paintings of garden or park settings, where nature is managed and maintained in a context of civilisation and curation.
“Living in Tasmania/Lutruwita my whole life has certainly had a profound impact on what I look for to paint or draw,” he says. “So much of this island is entwined in green, but even in the most remote places you find a sense of common suburban life—retaining walls and treated pine fences.”
Mueller’s figurative style might be regarded as somewhat ‘traditional’ in the context of contemporary art today, though his influences are wide-ranging, and include Jean-Édouard Vuillard, John Singer Sargent, Edvard Munch and Chaïm Soutine. Still emerging as an artist, he intends to embrace “more modern subjects” in future work. Mueller won the Packing Room Prize in the 2023 Henry Jones Art Prize, with the show at Handmark his most significant exposure yet—and that extra attention is having an impact on his approach.
“Even in small amounts, you can really feel when someone is going to look at what you paint. I think it changes everything. I’ve done so many paintings that only I have ever laid eyes on, and this past year has certainly been a big change for me, but is driving me into subjects and methods I wouldn’t have otherwise considered.”
In the Sticks
Max Mueller
Handmark Gallery
23 May—16 June
This article was originally published in the May/June 2025 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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