Max Wiedemann: “My themes come from the graffiti scene—that’s my root—but I have connected them with other forms of art. At some point, I realized, let’s bring our amazing art from the walls onto the canvas. That’s what excites me about it. I love the combination of raw street art contexts, hip-hop, with high-end fashion and luxury brands. That is pure energy.”

International Visual Language & Community

Max Wiedemann is now also launching his artistic career internationally. The artist, with English and German roots, feels at home on the global stage, and his paintings, screen prints, and sculptures are receiving strong recognition. Karl Lagerfeld introduced Max Wiedemann to Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue, in a restaurant in Paris. When Karl Lagerfeld purchased a painting, Max Wiedemann was brought into the spotlight. Wiedemann commemorates this special moment with his series “Lagerfeld”.

Wiedemann’s works neither appear German, British, nor American. They are not social-realist critiques nor strictly Pop Art. His visual and formal language is universally relevant: it is the language of brands, the aesthetics of street art, and the true meaning of graffiti—which in Greek, graphen, meant writing and drawing. This is precisely what Wiedemann develops in his works: painted writing, a fusion of meaning and aesthetics.

Max Wiedemann himself moves within this international sphere. He works in numerous locations, exhibits at major hotspots, and maintains extensive contacts with celebrities in Miami, London, and Paris who appreciate and collect his works. Prominent figures such as Tamara Ecclestone, Kate Moss, Kelly Osbourne, Bono, Carla Bruni, Lindsay Lohan, and Tamara Mellonder, founder of Jimmy Choo, count among his fans and collectors.

In his exhibition concepts and series, Wiedemann repeatedly collaborates with exclusive brands that showcase his works at trendy locations.

Message & works

Max Wiedemann sees himself as a “camera lens for celebrities” and documents the life world of the 21st century with his artistic tools. He sensitively explores the celebrity zeitgeist—the world of fashion, status symbols, and luxury brands—revealing their contradictions and fascination, and stripping bare what surrounds us unconsciously every day. Wiedemann employs the aesthetics of the rich and famous, amplifies them, and places them in new contexts.

As a sensitive seismograph for a society that ensnares itself in dependencies and craves status and luxury brands—threatening to replace one’s own sense of worth—the artist repeatedly engages us, presenting his 99 Problems with Chanel or the NEW WORLD ORDER in skillful, aesthetic execution.

Screen Prints / Spray Paints, Works on Canvas and Metal

Max Wiedemann has transferred graffiti from walls onto canvas, cardboard, and metal surfaces. In impressive formats, the artist conveys his messages.

Art claims such as “Closer to God in heels,” “The better you look the more you see,” and “The only pain is champagne” demonstrate how, in Wiedemann’s work, attraction and message merge into a powerful unity: confident, minimal, and to the point.

Many of these works are created in conceptual series, with each piece executed as a unique original.

VOGUE, LAGERFELD, KEEP SMILING, American Stock Exchange, MADE OF are, among others, the themes in which the artist applies his refined techniques: spray paint, screen printing, oxidation, stencils, diamond dust, and action painting.

Sculptures, Neon / LED Works

Max Wiedemann is constantly evolving, utilizing new materials and techniques.

He consistently takes the step from stencil/spray techniques (stencil/pochoir) to meticulously executed, overpainted lithographs. Likewise, he engages with the theme of objet trouvé, such as a cracked bank vault belonging to one of his friends, which he skillfully staged in the work “BREAK THE BANK”.

In his sculptures from the series “IN CASE OF”, Max Wiedemann stages everyday objects, tools, and 3-D items as LED light installations within Plexiglas cubes. A golden shovel enclosed in a cube, for example, becomes the prompt: “IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS.”

We can decide whether we want to break the glass. We know that if we do, the magic is gone. The secret of fascination lies only in the unreachable, the staged, in the promise. Our desires for security, the “HUG,” for peace or for war, find their true meaning in these works.

With his current neon works, Max Wiedemann takes another step forward by combining modern, space-saving LED technology with handcrafted neon lettering. The classic form of advertising text receives a variable, individualized backlighting. Wiedemann takes it a step further toward “CLOSER TO GOD…”.

In the execution of these installations, he collaborates with the most professional lighting technicians from Neon Zentgraf. High quality and high aesthetic value are inseparable for Max Wiedemann, an approach appreciated by the collectors of these works.

Bernd G. Helber, KunstKontor 2021

With his current neon works, Max Wiedemann takes another step forward by combining modern, space-saving LED technology with handcrafted neon lettering. The classic form of advertising text receives a variable, individualized backlighting. Wiedemann takes it a step further toward “CLOSER TO GOD…”.

In the execution of these installations, he collaborates with the most professional lighting technicians from Neon Zentgraf. High quality and high aesthetic value are inseparable for Max Wiedemann, an approach appreciated by the collectors of these works.

“Closer to God in heels,” “The better you look the more you see,” or “The only pain is champagne”—messages delivered confidently, minimally, and to the point.

As a sensitive seismograph for a society that traps itself in dependencies and craves status and luxury brands—threatening to replace one’s own sense of worth—Wiedemann repeatedly engages us, presenting No. 99 Problems with Chanel or the NEW WORLD ORDER in skillful, aesthetic execution.