{"id":377719,"date":"2025-12-29T07:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T07:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T07:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T07:37:10","slug":"bike-exif-eat-sawdust-inside-the-wandering-mind-of-maxwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377719\/","title":{"rendered":"Bike EXIF | Eat Sawdust: Inside the Wandering Mind of Maxwell\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Maxwell Paternoster\u2019s art is what would happen if you soaked R. Crumb\u2019s brain in gasoline and LSD \u2014 at once deranged, poignant, and darkly humorous. Swap the ballooned manic breasts of Crumb\u2019s characters with sweaty robots and laser skulls, and you\u2019re most of the way there \u2014 a trip of contemporary malaise and satire mixed with some good ol\u2019 fashioned strangeness. Max is an artist from the English countryside who makes awesome doodles for a living \u2014 doodles on paper, helmets, jackets, motorcycles, and even the occasional chainsaw. We had the pleasure of asking Max a few questions about his life, work, and whether he prefers nightshades or gourds \u2014 insightful stuff.<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Gregory George Moore: Hello. Can you tell me who you are, what you do, where you\u2019re from, and how to get rich?
Maxwell Paternoster: My name is Maxwell Paternoster<\/a>. I\u2019m an artist\/illustrator based in London, UK. I actually grew up in Suffolk, England. I do 2D illustrations in a sort of line-drawn comic and cartoon-influenced style. I combine this with my enjoyment of motorcycles and vehicles of all types. This has resulted in me painting motorcycles, helmets, jackets, and the occasional car, as well as other things. I can\u2019t tell you how to get rich, but I can advise quite knowledgeably regarding the opposite of that.<\/p>\n

Chainsaws . . . What possessed you to make art out of a couple of old chainsaws?
I\u2019ve actually for a few years been drawing chainsaws in my sketchpad. I just thought they were quite a cool thing to draw. I did grow up around them in the countryside. Not sure when I thought about customizing a saw in this way; I think it just seemed like an obvious cool thing to do. Years ago, I searched online for custom-painted saws but I could only find a picture of one painted with the Hello Kitty character. More recently, I\u2019ve searched online and found more custom-painted saws. Also, I found out years ago about the competition chainsawing world and the \u201chot saws.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind the \u201ccustomization\u201d of them? Those expansion chambers are wicked. And aimed right at the user\u2019s muzzle . . .
With my idea of customizing the saws, I started doing a load of research. I looked online at loads of videos of competition chainsawing. It\u2019s insane. Folks get huge logs and see who can cut through three times. The chainsaws are heavily modified (depending on what category they\u2019re competing in). There are methanol chainsaws, large displacement saws, everyone has expansion chambers, etc. One of the most well-known competitions is the Stihl Timbersports events. There are all kinds of categories in various competitions. I\u2019m no expert on that stuff, but I\u2019ve seen motorcycle engine-powered saws, large displacement standard saws with expansion chambers, there are even V8 car engine saws operated by two people. I did notice that generally, the saws in the lower categories seem to be 100cc upward.<\/p>\n

With regard to me sourcing a saw, turns out most home chainsaws are only like 35\u201355cc or around that, so it was going to be quite difficult to find a donor saw. I wanted the saws to be as close to the actual feasible competition size as possible. Not that there was any intention of competing with them \u2014 I just wanted that detail. I managed to find one saw in my father\u2019s garden! It was just outside, sticking out of the undergrowth with grass growing through it. Turned out to be a 1980s 60cc Sachs Dolmar. Not quite 100cc, but I figured I\u2019d just use it since it\u2019s still bigger than a standard basic saw. Then, halfway through customizing it, while the crankcases were at the blasters, another saw came up \u2014 95cc! And coincidentally, also a Sachs Dolmar from the \u201980s, so I decided to get it and do both saws. Geoff Cain at Co-Built fabrication made the exhausts. It looks like they point into your grill, but they sort of poke out sideways.<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Did you learn anything interesting about \u201cchainsaw culture\u201d while creating these pieces?
I did learn a lot, yes. Mainly about the timber sports stuff I mentioned earlier!<\/p>\n

Where did your interest in twisted phrases and twisted characters come from?
Just growing up reading all sorts of comics, and I was really interested in surrealism and comedy. I enjoy a good turn of phrase. The surreal comedians Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer were a big early influence.<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

How did motorcycles and vehicles become a common thematic element of your art?
Growing up in the countryside, there was a lot of machinery around, from the ol\u2019 farm tractors and all the mad farm equipment. I think being a typical kid drew me to this stuff. I got an old motorcycle to ride around the fields on when I was a kid. I started to draw bikes and cars in my illustration work, and it got noticed. The result was a bit of a niche in the bike world, I suppose.<\/p>\n

You clearly don\u2019t take yourself too seriously and there\u2019s a lot of humor in your work. Can you tell us where that sense of humour comes from?
I\u2019ve always been a bit immature . . .<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Potatoes or squash? Why?
That depends on the contextual meaning of the word squash, I suppose. Also, whether the question is potatoes or squash as a general thought, or whether the question is potatoes or squash (depending on the meaning of the word squash) as some sort of decision to make in real life. If it\u2019s potatoes as an existing object, or the game squash in general, I\u2019d prefer the potatoes, whether that be a thought or a selection in some scenario where I had to avoid having anything to do with the game squash \u2014 because I don\u2019t like the game squash.<\/p>\n

In a scenario where I was given the choice to eat potatoes or drink the beverage squash, that would totally depend on whether I was hungry or thirsty. If the scenario were one where I had to decide whether the object in front of me was a potato or a squash (the drink in this case), that would then depend on which one I was presented with \u2014 unless I was blindfolded and had to guess without touching, I suppose. In terms of potato versus squash as a foodstuff, I\u2019m based in the UK and as far as I know, squash as a foodstuff is not quite as prominent here as it is in the U.S. It\u2019s used, don\u2019t get me wrong, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever eaten pumpkin, for example, and growing up, I thought only witches in children\u2019s books actually ate pumpkin. I have eaten butternut squash, though. But I think I would choose potato at this time. As for being squashed, I choose potato.<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

What are your personal rides? Motorcycles, cars, a jet-powered Razor scooter? How does Max get around?
I\u2019m a bit low on bikes at the moment. I only have my BSA (Lazer Death), which is a BSA M20 rigid frame with a B33 500cc engine that sports early Goldstar internals. I built it up piece by piece. It has a skull on the tank with lightning bolts in the eyes. I also have a 2002 Skoda Fabia.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for you? Are there any grand ambitions or projects on the horizon that we should keep an eye out for?
Ah, yea, dunno. Probably. There are a few things at a very early stage of development. Mainly video-based, actually.<\/p>\n

And one final softball to round out our interview \u2014 what is the meaning of life?
Forty-two.<\/p>\n


\n\"Max
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

This article first appeared in Iron & Air Magazine<\/a>, and is reproduced here under license.<\/p>\n

Interview by Gregory George Moore | Art by Maxwell Paternoster | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n