Maxwell Stevens was born in Charleston, South Carolina (USA) in 1971. He received an MFA in Painting from the School of Art at Washington University in Saint Louis in 1995, and a BFA in Painting from The Atlanta College of Art (now SCAD Atlanta) in 1993. He is best known for his multi-layered paintings and drawings that overlay photorealistic images with vivid, energized abstractions. Shortly after moving to New York City, after many years of working exclusively in non- representational abstraction, Maxwell Stevens embarked on a significant stylistic shift in his approach to his art. He began composing his canvases with recognizable imagery, incorporating photorealist figures and lifelike scenes into his works, and then abruptly superposing these paintings directly with tumultuous abstractions.