Although Maxim is well known as member of the award-winning band Prodigy, at the same time he has conquered an interesting space in the panorama of art. His new exhibition, titled “Infinitive Drama,” is held in London from the 14 of October till the 7 of November at the Miart Gallery during the Frieze Week.
It’s here where Maxim’ s art combines drama together with a hint of Pop Art. “We are delighted to host Maxim’s bold compositions that play with surrealism, dark humour and the complexity of an ever-changing modern society.” Has commented Irem Deniz, owner of the gallery.
Maxim has more recently become known for his creativity as a contemporary artist under the pseudonym of MM (Double M). He has been creating paintings, multi-media collages and sculptures for the last 20 years.
“Infinite Drama” is an appropriate description for his dramatic, powerful artworks, which draw on elements of the human psyche and dramatic world events such as troubling social issues, police brutality and war.
They feature painting and sculptures fusing together influences of Afrofuturism and abstraction of pop art and surrealism: with all of that the artist communicates the darker side of humanity. In order to investigate the human soul, Maxim makes use of the Rorschach test, as testified by the paintings “Therapy Green”, “Therapy Gold” and “Therapy Yellow” .
The influence from Afrofuturism culture is visible in the sculptured masks inspired by ancient African masks. Maxim masks are painted in bright colours with high-gloss reflective paint to lend them a futuristic edge and the fact that they are ‘elongated’ evokes Modigliani’s style of the early 20th Century.
In addition to that, in the London exhibition Maxim’s sculptures, ‘Green Future X’, ‘Silver Future X’ and ‘Black Future X’, are also associated with the Afrofuturist philosophy of a cultural aesthetic fusing science-fiction, history and fantasy in order to explore the African experience.
Maxim’s interest in Afrofuturism is part of a legacy of artists and musicians with links to the philosophy, including George Clinton and film director Wanuri Kahiu.
Of special interest is ‘Balaclava Ballerina’. The anti-police brutality riots in the US sowed the seed for Maxim’s sculpture. The ‘Ballerina’ and ‘Rebel Cat’, sculptures displayed at the exhibition represent the need of standing up against something negative in the society and spreading love and positivity in the face of social inequality and injustice.
They work as a surreal metaphor for society’s rebels who spread positivity by shooting rays of love.
Many of Maxim’s works include the ‘$’ symbol; money can have a bad and good side “It depends on how you use it” he sustains. “Money can be used to promote corruption, greed and selfishness, but equally, it can work to feed, clothe and create opportunities for the less fortunate.”
Nowadays his art has been featured on various home goods, such as bone China, and soon will be also on candles, cushions and wallpaper. What is interesting in his biography is that he started to explore the visual arts after a trip to an art fair where he went looking for paintings for his house. After a tour around the art fair, he thought he could do just as well, if not better. He began by painting colour washes, creating abstract pieces that caught the eye of anyone that came to his house, who commissioned similar ones for themselves. He brought to his art all the energy that distinguishes him as member of the hard-hitting dance music band ‘The Prodigy’.
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