Max Self - 21st October 1992 to 9th April 2022
Maximillian Victor Self who suffered with bipolar 1 from an early age and used his art as a platform to tell the story of his fascinating, wonderful and complex short journey through life by drawing his thoughts.
 “ A pen in my hand is like a doorway through my soul” Max SelfÂ
Max was diagnosed with bipolar 1 whilst in his teens and used art to relieve and portray what was going on in his beautiful but complicated mind.
The piece of art called “My World “ took over a year to complete and was his first major drawing aged 16 yrs old and an insight into his ability to draw with such intricate and complex detail whilst expressing the visions in his mind. The medium used was Staedtler Tri Fine liners.
In between drawing Max worked freelance designing mapping backgrounds for Ubisoft and RedLynx and was part of the design team that created the game “Trials Fusion “. He was invited to move to Helsinki to work with them full time but declined the offer as he thought he’d lose his individuality as an artist.
He returned to drawing with pen and ink and put his artwork on various social network art sites where he had very positive feedback from all over the world and requests and commissions flowed in. The mediums used in his earlier works were pencil and staedtler tri fine liners and over time he moved onto Uni pin fine liner pens and photoshop to add the colour and contrast onto the original black and white drawings.
Max continually battled the demons and torment of Bipolar 1 and drew the visions in his head as the theme for his art. The techniques progressed with ever finer depth and detail, more 3D , combining light and shade and layers along with his signature style of intertwining and marrying every piece up to the next exquisitely.
In 2020 a major manic episode occurred and Max was sectioned. Whilst in the psychiatric ward Max was allowed some Sharpie pens and Fine liner pens to allow him to create whilst suffering a manic episode and on the hall corridor he created his first and last ever “Maxi” as opposed to a “Banksy”. He took photos and put them on Imgur art site and it went viral…at the last count we shared together he’d had 195,000 views! The “Maxi” will be covered in a protective coat and stay there forever at Bro Cerwyn.
Once back in his home Max decided to add colour through photoshop to create a whole new dimension to certain choice pieces of his art which you can see in the half completed colour version of “Chaotique” and fully completed version of “Roots”, “Future Fifty Two”, “ Boundless “, Angle Town” and “ Alive”. His originals coloured in pencil and Staedtler tri fine liners are “ My World”,” Mayan Temple” and “ The Witches Cauldron “
A truly beautiful soul in a lost world whose art will be his legacy and shine a light to those who need inspiration.
“When I first came across Max’s art I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I first saw it on a page called psychedelic artworks on Facebook. Hs art struck me immediately, the endless tiny landscapes of creative thought, feeling and emotion leapt off the screen at me. His work truly inspired me and I wanted to share that featuring his magical artwork as the cover art for the forthcoming album art and live stage background for the Modest Ra “Age of now” album and live performances. Max’s art will live on to inspire others as it did us all. In loving memory of Max. 
” Modest Ra
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEut5jrgUTA/?hl=en
