About
Max Bainbridge’s sculptures carved from wood, reflect a need to create a tangible and grounded presence though the physicality of the sculpted object in space. Working with trees in their entirety Bainbridge seeks out wood that has fallen where it once grew, forming direct and intimate connections to land and place through his recognition of the tree as a being that can occupy both our inner psyche and the physical character of its former site. In doing so, his search for the true essence of the tree is ever present within the form of his large-scale vessels and free-standing sculptures that echo their past life across surface and form. For each work he takes the natural shape and character of the tree itself and responds to it directly, allowing the inherent agency of the wood to push back and inform sculptural decision-making as he works. Embodying this transformation from the monumental presence of the tree into objects on an intimate human scale, his works become quiet reflections on our relationship with the natural world and the importance of evaluating our place within it.
Bainbridge trained at Chelsea College of Art (BA Fine Art 2013 & Foundation 2010) and he has exhibited his work at: Make Hauser & Wirth (Somerset 2018/2024), Sarah Myerscough Gallery (London 2019/23), Informality Gallery (Oxfordshire 2022), Amelie Maison D’Art (Paris 2022), New Art Centre (Roche Court 2020), Oriel Myrddin Gallery (Wales 2019), Ruthin Craft Centre (Wales 2018), Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft (Sussex 2018); Awards include: John Ruskin Prize Finalist (2024), Jerwood Makers Open (2019), QEST Scholarship (2019), Collect Open (Crafts Council 2018); Residencies: Braemar Residency (Make Hauser & Wirth 2023), Need Make Use (Pitt Rivers Museum 2017). In 2014 he established Forest + Found, an art collective with whom he works on public commissions, exhibitions and curatorial projects.
