Rob McLeod (born 1948) grew up in Glasgow and attended the Glasgow School of Art. He came to New Zealand in 1972 and has painted, and taught art and art history here for decades.

In 1981, when asked about his art practice Mcleod replied: ‘How I paint is more important than what I paint.’ McLeod layers on the paint until he has made a substantially weighty work. Influenced by American painters Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, Mcleod has arrived at his style through experimentation. More recently McLeod has been mining the rich vein of imagery in comic books and childrens cartoons. McLeod paints on plywood, layering shape and forms and applying lurid colour with expressive bravado. My Max is named for his son.

McLeod has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and had a retrospective exhibition at the City Gallery Wellington in 2012. His paintings are in most major New Zealand collections, including Te Papa Tongarewa - Museum of New Zealand.