Red meadow

Red Meadow presents a quiet, dreamlike encounter between a childlike figure and a black cat set against a vivid crimson field beneath a pale green sky. Rendered in gouache with soft, matte textures and expressive brushwork, the painting balances innocence with unease. The oversized eyes, simplified forms, and bold contrast of red, green, and black create an atmosphere that feels both tender and mysterious. Max Horst invites the viewer into a poetic, surreal landscape where stillness, curiosity, and melancholy coexist.

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I am full-time contemporary Australian painter having completed a Master Degree at the European Academy of Arts in 1997. I generally paint under the name "Max Horst". Exploring the nature of people and the relationships between them, my paintings are very often short stories of small,daily moments of life. I distill these relationships through simplified forms and shapes, developing my own code of symbols - a code which is constantly changing and developing over time.In my quest for simplicity and honesty I draw much of my inspiration from cave paintings and naive art, “because I find them very honest as a form of art”.Using oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, I may mix them with drawing techniques. Natural pigments of earth colors are the base of my palette. With an intuitive preoccupation with color, form and line my work belies a carefully considered composition and an appreciation of the nature of human interaction.