Maureen Paley is pleased to present a new exhibition by American artist Max Hooper Schneider. This will be his first solo exhibition in London, installed both at Maureen Paley and Studio M.

Hooper Schneider works within the realm of art and science and divides his studio time between Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Belgrade. He received his Landscape Architecture MA from Harvard University in 2011, whilst also holding degrees in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, Zoology at the University of Hawaii, and Marine Biology from Santa Monica College.

The simultaneous understanding of material technologies and biological systems continues to foreground his artistic practice.

In June 2023, he took part in the Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition titled The Underworld of Hydrothermal Vents. The project considered the role of underwater shafts to disperse larvae, fungi, and bacteria throughout the ocean to foster novel microcosmic communities. Six years prior, he also embarked on a maritime exploration which spanned the coral reefs of the Fukushima disaster reef in Japan.

This research informs the sculptures within the exhibition which occupies a total embeddedness within the nonhuman sphere, embracing the toxic and poisoned within his examination of the tragic results garnered by humanity’s interference with ecology.

Max Hooper Schneider (b. 1982, Los Angeles, USA) currently works and lives in Los Angeles and Santa Fe. Selected solo exhibitions include: Keep on Rotting in the Free World, MO.CO., Montpellier, France (2022); Born in a Mausoleum, Del Vaz Projects, Santa Monica, California, USA (2021) and Hammer Projects: Max Hooper Schneider, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA (2019).

Selected group exhibitions include: Death and the Devil: The Fascination with Horror, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany (2023); A Gateway to Possible Worlds: Art & Science-Fiction, Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2022); Sun Rise | Sun Set, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany; 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia (2021); Permafrost, MO.CO., Montpellier, France; You: Works from the Lafayette Anticipations Collection, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France (2020) 16th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2019); Give Up the Ghost, 13th Baltic Triennial, Vilnius, Lithuania (2018); ARoS Triennial: The Garden, End of Times Beginning of Times, ARoS, Aarhus, Denmark; The New Normal: China, Art, and 2017, UCCA, Beijing, China (2017); Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark (2014) and Mongolia 360° 2nd Land Art Biennial, Ikh Gazriin Chuluu, Gobi Desert, Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulanbataar, Mongolia (2012).

His work is included in institutional collections such as the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Fondation Galeries Lafayette, Paris, MOCA, Los Angeles and the Rubell Museum, Miami.