Philip Maxwell

Philip Maxwell was born in Christchurch and started painting when he was at high school. He completed a Diploma in Graphic Design in Auckland and then practiced as a signwriter, all the while painting. Philip moved to Port Chalmers (Otago) in 1999 where he set up his own gallery/studio and became a full-time artist.

Philip still lives and paints in Port Chalmers and tends to include local Dunedin landscapes within his paintings, especially those around Koputai (Port Chalmers) and looking towards Taiaroa Heads on the Otago Peninsula.

Gallery De Novo is proud to be the only gallery in Dunedin representing Philip's work. Each painting is executed to an incredibly high standard, and the demand for his work is a clear indication of the talent of this young artist.

Maxwell’s works are hanging in the collections of Greenlane Hospital, Auckland and Dunedin Public Hospital and he has sold works to private collectors throughout New Zealand and also to Australia, Canada, England and Scotland.

“I feel it is important for me to base my work around where I live and how I feel about a particular place… a lot of my work has been based on my immediate surroundings; it’s very local. It’s something I have always done; I guess I’m exploring a sense of place, this place, the place where I am living. My work is becoming more and more about a deliberately realised reality that is more visual than factual.” Philip Maxwell