Max Lawrence White, 2020, image by Alli Harper Photographer

Max Lawrence White

Max Lawrence White (b. Melbourne) is a painter whose practice is centred on the perceptual and conceptual possibilities of colour. Working within and against the traditions of geometric abstraction and hard-edge painting, White explores the interplay between structure and contingency, often employing systems of chance to generate colour relationships and compositional outcomes.

White’s earlier works were influenced in part by his Japanese heritage, drawing on spatial and compositional logics derived from tatami mat arrangements, where structure is governed by culturally embedded systems of order and auspicious placement. This emphasis on rule-based organisation continues to inform his practice, even as it is tested and expanded.

This is evident in recent bodies of work such as Measures Concluded (2021), where modular compositions are constructed through processes of layering, cutting and reconfiguration, and where mis-tint paints introduce subtle disruptions within otherwise ordered chromatic systems.

In A Challenge of Biases (2025), modular geometric structures are likewise used as a fixed framework; however, colour is determined through algorithmic processes in which palettes are generated via randomised computational procedures. Here, chance is introduced at the level of selection rather than material, positioning painting as a negotiation between control and indeterminacy.

Across these bodies of work, White positions painting as a site where order and indeterminacy coexist.

White holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) from RMIT University (2011) and an Honours degree from the Victorian College of the Arts (2012). He has exhibited extensively across Australia, including multiple solo exhibitions with Artereal Gallery, Sydney, and Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne, where he is represented. His work has been featured in publications including Aesthetica, VAULT, and The World of Interiors, and is held in collections including the Justin Art House Museum (Melbourne) and COMO Art (Netherlands).

Max Lawrence White cv

Solo Exhibitions:
A Challenge of Biases, 2025
Measures Concluded, 2021
Influence & Overlay, 2017

Group Exhibitions:
mono.poly.chromes, 2024
Tape Twenty Twenty Two
Tape II, 2021

Available Works:

Max Lawrence White
29, 58, 127, 27, 19, 59, 106
2024, acrylic and enamel on board, aluminium frame
60.7 x 60.7 x 4 cm

SOLD

Max Lawrence White
173, 200, 123, 70, 30, 17, 39
2024
acrylic and enamel on board, aluminium frame
90.7cm x 90.7cm x 4cm

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