Maximilian Harley

Maximilian Harley’s work concerns themes of fragmentation, lost coherence and the interplay between the body and suffering. Influenced by Mannerist and Romantic antecedents, his compositions are marked by monolithic, anonymous conflations and dissembled ideal forms, presenting the figure not as an object of desire or identification, but as a site of loss, confusion and disintegration. Articulated through specific languages of paint, such as sfumato and chiaroscuro, Harley’s paintings totalise the image through the intermingling of figure and ground, often obliterating the horizon line. These fused masses are dramatically isolated by shadow, heightened by sources of light at once remote and as if emanating from within. The vaporous contours of bodies, most always inferring headless, castrated and contorted beings of myth seem to implore: Where does the body end?

Harley lives and works in Melbourne, his work having been exhibited throughout Australia and held in private collections. In 2023 Harley undertook residencies in both France and Italy having been the recipient of both the Cranbourne Fellowship and Denis Diderot Grant, prior to this he studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne where he earned his Honours degree.