Maxwell Arthur Thompson

"Poor Unfortunate"
Screen print/ Paint/ Silver-leaf
129X89
2023

Maxwell Arthur (Brisbane, 1983) is a second-generation Australian artist. He left Australia in 2003 and now resides in the UK where he has worked and studied in multiple creative fields. After receiving a BA(Hons) in Print from Brighton University in 2001 he went on to graduated from the Royal College of Art where he completed a two-year Masters program in Print in 2023. His rich life experiences have fermented in him a particular worldview, which he attempts to translate through his art practice. His work often returns to the thematic undercurrents of Post Colonialism and Responsibility, Intersectionality, Equity, Human rights, Gender Identity and Absurdism.

Maxwell Arthur is an anti-disciplinary artist, who believes that artists can often feel limited or bound to one single medium, thus he attempts to work outside the boundaries of traditional disciplines. As an artist he seeks to offer the audience a window into the life of minorities and marginalised peoples.

‘It is my aim to help build a new and inclusive culture. Where people who are different and unique are celebrated in the name of diversity.”

My practice is a representation of my social and political goals. My artistic choices reflect my lifestyle and the people that I surround myself with: the thinkers, writers, Queer theorists, LGBTQA+ activists, diverse-abled (disabled) and militant feminists that I call family.

My work concerns itself with Transgender empowerment, disability rights, gender fluidity, indigenous rights, psychological and neurodiversity awareness, perception, and the intersectional processes of life in which we all participate. I am trained in Print and use photography as a tool to aid in visual-testimony. I use images of others and myself in the search for social equity.

“I step away from rigid ideas of masculinity and shine a light upon myriad facets that lurk within the quagmire of the soul and psyche.”

This introspection has become a feature in my practice. I use self portraiture to express my artistic intent and as a platform to showcase the level of freedom of expression I am privileged to have as a western born white male - acknowledging that this is certainly not the case for many in this world.