My name is Maxime Cousineau-Pérusse, I am based in Montreal, Canada.

I am currently a graduate student in psychology at McGill University, which strongly influences my artwork. As a self-taught artist, I have painted and drawn for as long as I can remember. My work originates from introspection and emotions, which I aim to capture in figurative expressionist visual representations. I focus on the parts of our bodies that express who we are, such as our lips, eyes and body language, exaggerating these features with informal composition and dramatic color.

My work is closely related to my study of psychology, both in that it provides me with a therapeutic process, and it allows me to translate my research of the human psyche into visual form. The principal concept that I wish to explore is the multiplicity of the concept of individual identity. A gap exists between in the way one defines their own identity, the way they present it in different social circles, and the identity one wishes to project. These different instances of identity are merely approximations of an individual’s essence, but are nonetheless valid an important, as they agglomerate to create a complete individual identity. This idea is in line with Gestalt psychology, which states that a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The guiding idea behind my work is that one's world view directly influences and shapes their world. What we think and what we feel changes people and things around us, and they only exist in light of our perceptions. We project and reflect light.