MAXIMILIAN | When boys turn into MEN
“My artwork symbolically represents the abuse of slavery and the manipulation of poor societies, particularly African ones, through the exploitation of resources and economic blackmail. The “golden box,” the artwork’s title, means rich closed societies’ selfishness and cynical towards the so-called “Third World.”
” To me, being an artist comes from a deep-rooted necessity.
It’s a natural way to transform your emotions, fears, and desires into a concrete object like a painting.
It’s the representation of an idea, using a language made up of images – much of it channeled directly from my subconscious, with little in the way of filters. I’ve been making art since I was a child, and it’s always been my favorite way to spend my time, to be alone, and to be able to visit my inner world.
Since arriving in Paris, I’ve started a new series of artworks representing pre-adolescent boys – an age when the games and innocence of childhood give way to adult thoughts and concerns. When boys turn into men, between the ages of 10 and 14, that phase is a stage when sexuality is still not fully expressed and when gender is still fairly fluid. My characters are androgynous precisely because I want to represent that sexual duality” . – MAXIMILIAN
Maximilian (Massimiliano Esposito) was born in Milan, Italy, on December 17, 1969. He started painting as a child, and despite his art school training, he has maintained an instinctive approach to his work, letting his subconscious dictate his subject matter. The recurring figure of a pre-adolescent child, neither male nor female, lends coherence to this free-form universe. Since moving to Paris, France, in 2012, his work has focused on that unripe phase of human existence when gender is still undefined, and sexuality has yet to be expressed.
The melancholy and reflective characters he portrays are experiencing the often painful and challenging transition from childhood games and innocence to the first upsets of adolescence and adulthood.
“My artwork is a crude metaphor for the violence and abuse suffered by children forced, in extreme cases, even to prostitute themselves.”
“My artwork expresses the violence suffered by children even during early childhood.
The negative experience always leaves signs (painful signs, often paid with blood, a metaphor of my painting) in the child who suffers it. He will become an adult and will be able to avenge such violence with extreme behavior.”
” Maximilian is creating dream-like artworks which involves freezing cold and melting hot colors while adding many symbolical images. These symbolical images are not necessary need to be translated into words – they are important for the visual aspects as well.
Maximilian art is very illustrative, touching deeply minds and souls and leaving remarkable impact to contemporary art world” . – Bougie Art Gallery. Ontario, Canada.
“This my artwork is a sarcastic and cruel metaphor for racial hatred. More generally, it represents “the killing” that the so-called “white man” causes to all other races and cultures”.
“My artwork symbolizes the violent madness which, in certain social, geographical, and political contexts, also makes children instruments of death and destruction. They, unsuspecting beings, experience this madness as a childhood game, becoming easy tools in the hands of ruthless killers”.
