Profile
John Maxwell Steele makes paintings which deal
with abstract imaginings. He has also never been
afraid to engage with beauty, though he is not drawn
to its more obvious manifestations.
His latest paintings bear ample witness to this.
The meeting point of land, sea and sky has
long been a focus for his art. Steele makes
paintings which take landscape as their
subject without being explicitly topographical
or descriptive. Through a suggestion of silvery
clouds and mudflat he evokes a littoral: not a
specific view or portrait of a place, but a larger
statement about this type of country as a
habitat for the spirit, a place where the
imagination may soar. His particular quality
of recognition breathes through these images,
animating them. Intuition and chance
play their part, but they would be inert
without the guiding principle of the artist's vision.
Education
2002/05 Solihull College, West Midlands.
Fine Art First Class Honors' Degree.
2005/07 Falmouth College, Cornwall.
Fine Art Masters Degree.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2001 Winter Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2002 Open Media RBSA Birmingham
2003 Johnathan Poole Gallery Summer Show
2004 London Art Fair Johnathan Poole Galley
2004 New Horizons RBSA Birmingham
2004 Summer Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2004 Prize Exhibition RBSA Birmingham
2004 The Mailbox Birmingham ArtsFest
2005 New Horizons RBSA Birmingham
2005 Custard Factory Birmingham
2006 Open Media Exhibition RBSA Birmingham
2006 Serena Hall Gallery Southwold Suffolk
2006 The Hackwood Art Festival Basingstoke
2007 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2007 Art of England Art show Staffordshire
2007 Cambridgeshire Art Fair
2007 Keele Art Gallery Keele University
2008 Artspace Open Barn Galleries Henley on Thames
2008 Affordable Art Fair London, Barn Galleries
2009 Sheridan Russull Gallery Summer show London
2009 Affordable Art Fair London, Sheridan Russull Gallery
2010 Winter Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2011 Edgar Modern Gallery Bath
2011 Memories of Summer, Gallery One Greyshott
Selected Exhibitions
2004 St Pauls Gallery Birmingham open closed exhibition.
2005 City Gallery Leicester open closed exhibition.
March/April 2006 Scratch the Surface – Surface Gallery Nottingham
Open Exhibition Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
10th February - 29th April 2007.
Open Exhibition Birmingham Town Hall Sep 2007
2009 One man show Within the domestic Gallery Leamington Spa
Worcester Open Contemporary Art Exhibition 2010
2010 Four man show The Stour Gallery
2011 Memories of Summer, Gallery One Greyshott
Awards
Bursary and honorary associate membership of the RBSA
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
2006 Open All Media Exhibition Highly Commended
RBSA Birmingham
2007 Open All Media Exhibition Highly Commended
RBSA Birmingham
Artist in residence August/September 2007 RBSA
with abstract imaginings. He has also never been
afraid to engage with beauty, though he is not drawn
to its more obvious manifestations.
His latest paintings bear ample witness to this.
The meeting point of land, sea and sky has
long been a focus for his art. Steele makes
paintings which take landscape as their
subject without being explicitly topographical
or descriptive. Through a suggestion of silvery
clouds and mudflat he evokes a littoral: not a
specific view or portrait of a place, but a larger
statement about this type of country as a
habitat for the spirit, a place where the
imagination may soar. His particular quality
of recognition breathes through these images,
animating them. Intuition and chance
play their part, but they would be inert
without the guiding principle of the artist's vision.
Education
2002/05 Solihull College, West Midlands.
Fine Art First Class Honors' Degree.
2005/07 Falmouth College, Cornwall.
Fine Art Masters Degree.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2001 Winter Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2002 Open Media RBSA Birmingham
2003 Johnathan Poole Gallery Summer Show
2004 London Art Fair Johnathan Poole Galley
2004 New Horizons RBSA Birmingham
2004 Summer Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2004 Prize Exhibition RBSA Birmingham
2004 The Mailbox Birmingham ArtsFest
2005 New Horizons RBSA Birmingham
2005 Custard Factory Birmingham
2006 Open Media Exhibition RBSA Birmingham
2006 Serena Hall Gallery Southwold Suffolk
2006 The Hackwood Art Festival Basingstoke
2007 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
2007 Art of England Art show Staffordshire
2007 Cambridgeshire Art Fair
2007 Keele Art Gallery Keele University
2008 Artspace Open Barn Galleries Henley on Thames
2008 Affordable Art Fair London, Barn Galleries
2009 Sheridan Russull Gallery Summer show London
2009 Affordable Art Fair London, Sheridan Russull Gallery
2010 Winter Show Stour Gallery Shipston-on-Stour
2011 Edgar Modern Gallery Bath
2011 Memories of Summer, Gallery One Greyshott
Selected Exhibitions
2004 St Pauls Gallery Birmingham open closed exhibition.
2005 City Gallery Leicester open closed exhibition.
March/April 2006 Scratch the Surface – Surface Gallery Nottingham
Open Exhibition Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
10th February - 29th April 2007.
Open Exhibition Birmingham Town Hall Sep 2007
2009 One man show Within the domestic Gallery Leamington Spa
Worcester Open Contemporary Art Exhibition 2010
2010 Four man show The Stour Gallery
2011 Memories of Summer, Gallery One Greyshott
Awards
Bursary and honorary associate membership of the RBSA
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists
2006 Open All Media Exhibition Highly Commended
RBSA Birmingham
2007 Open All Media Exhibition Highly Commended
RBSA Birmingham
Artist in residence August/September 2007 RBSA