Max Barel
Max Barel (b. 1996, NO) is an Oslo-based photographer and artist educated at Oslo Fotokunstskole and HDK-Valand in Gothenburg. Working at the intersection of photography, installation, and sculpture, he explores how the everyday can be transformed into something dreamlike and unexpected. Familiar objects, detached from their original context, open up to new interpretations that blur the boundaries between the ordinary and the extraordinary.
His works have been exhibited at institutions such as Bastille Design Center (FR), Röda Sten Konsthall (SE), Galleri Thomassen (SE), Gamle Munch (NO), Kösk (NO), and Göteborgs Konstmuseum (SE). In 2021, he was selected as a Fresh Eyes Talent by GUP Magazine, and his work was recently published in Der Greif, curated by Torbjørn Rødland. He is represented by Bruu Studios.
Kronisk
Archival pigment print
14 x 19 cm (24 x 29 cm)
2025
In Between the Lines, Barel presents two photographs printed on mesh (91 × 126 cm). Fra taket shows cables forming organic patterns on a worn red surface, while Veggen ved hotellet depicts a fence in front of a rock face. The motifs explore familiarity, boundaries, and traces, while the mesh material lends the photographs a tactile and unexpected quality.
He also presents a smaller photograph, Kronisk (14 × 19 cm), showing two stones balanced in a foggy landscape — a natural monument appearing both massive and fragile.
Fra taket
Photograph printed on mesh
91 x 126 cm
2025
Download full work list → Here
Veggen ved hotellet
Photograph printed on mesh
91 x 126 cm
2025
“Max’s photographs attract the eye in an elusive way. They contain something familiar, yet return it to us transformed – both precise and spontaneous, inviting a space of wonder without answers. What fascinates me is how Max creates his own visual grammar: landscapes, objects, and staged fragments combine into a world where beauty, disruption, and play coexist. His works invite us to let go of interpretation and simply be present with the image – in its fragile, poetic, and slightly surreal atmosphere.”
— Katia Maria Hassve, Curator