Introducing now
Massimiliano Maggi (Max Mag)
2019 2020 Collection
Impression
The first association I get when looking at these pieces is in the asymmetrical that becomes symmetrical and back to asymmetrical which further leads me to think about our scientific consciousness from different points in the history of thought. The exactness being replaced with improvisations in the never ending circle as we discover more and at the same time perceive how we know even less. The structures that Maxmag uses are sometimes reminiscent of the high drama, the struggle of the individual sometimes dressed in the barbed wire, almost welcoming the wounds any friction creates, becoming one with the surrounding that wants to constrain. There is a triumph of Stoicism, the imperishable nature of the will to power. Sometimes it is depicted in the human stares, sometimes it is in the rigid geometrical structure of the pieces. The shades of black and white that encompass the entire narrative of our sometimes tragic history, the need to destroy in order to transform. Maxmag transcends and elevate the human values above all, learning from the past and making the self awareness that everything is alive and is watching. This is where the micro and macro cosmos come into play because we can almost see the vibration of the tiniest particles in this body of artwork, as they fluctuate, wanting to transform, enter the higher state of self awareness.
We learn about this in the ancient texts, through obscure, contextually dense transfer of knowledge, but Maxmag’s art directs us towards this road, for example taking the simple elements from the formation of cell, the wonder of multiplication, almost perfect sense of purpose that each cell has in the organism. The same sense of replication and transcendence is present in this series with temperamental attitude. No time to lose, it is the direction that defines itself, the final result a polyphonic interplay between the elements, posing a question mark, where do we go, how do we continue on a quest to become more human?
Irina Ideas written in 2020
Portal to a world behind the art works
2019/20 Collection
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Artist Thoughts
- What is your current art project? What are the ideas that you are working on? What is the message you are trying to convey to the world with your art?
I’ve always attracted by human faces, because in the human face I can see everything, the whole universe, all humanity: good and bad, beginning and end, love and hate, past and future. Every single face has all human history with it, with madness, loneliness, pain, fear, lack of meaning that characterizes human existence. I’m currently focused on a detail of the face: the eye (designed with few signs, in an abstract way) is for me a microcosm and a macrocosm at the same time. - How would you describe your process of entering the flow, what other disciplines overlap with your primary vision?
I haven’t a recipe… for me everything is art: I’m doing art while I’m working, I’m doing sport, I’m walking. I can say that music helps me to enter into the creative dimension: I have a deep passion for organ music, especially for Bach and his “Toccata e fuga”. - What place on Earth inspired you the most?
I’m inspired by mountains: the difficulty to reach the top, the silence, the nature. There is a mountain in my city (I live in a small town in Tuscany, Italy): the Prana; it’s my favourite place in the world. There I can hear the nature, the wind, I can smell the wood, the grass. There I listen to myself
- What inspired you from history of art, books, philosophy, science, any other disciplines?
There are many masters who inspired me… I remember here Bosch, in his dream and visionary world; Escher in the hermeneutic vision and Francis Bacon, in his deformed and so material faces. In the scientific and philosophical field, there are two men to inspire me: Giordano Bruno e Galileo Galilei. They have revolutionized the world’s view and they have fought for their ideas.
I’m also very interested in astronomy: the deep universe, black holes, galaxies. - What is the latest dream you had? How would you like this civilization to look like in 100 years?
My dreams are… nightmares, with screams, noises, voices.
I hope the civilization will defeat many diseases and will improve the environment; I hope in 100 years will be less technology, more civilization and humanity.
articles
Art history
Hilma af Klint mysticism that brought innovation in art which nobody was aware of at the time
Exploring the work of artist Hilma af Klint, with all the mystical, occult, metaphysical that she has been tapping into, indirectly going deep into the art that would have later be defined as abstract art. She innovated without even being aware of it and was was the world, unaware.
Exploring the world of Petar Lubarda, seeing through all the way to building block that the stone is
This is a story, a personal impression rather, of a great artist Petar Lubarda with his roots in Montenegro, with trunk in former Yugoslavia’s Belgrade and Paris and branches, leaves, fruits and flowers in the World. He reaches deep into the history and yet gives us something completely new, a way to look through the prism of the stone that becomes a bone that becomes a structure that becomes an architecture. An architecture of the cosmic journey that we all take on this planet becoming one with the stone that made us and at the same time we become appalled from time to time when we notice the glimpses of the core. We live in the world so dominated by the ruthless ruler called beauty that often times we live in the superficial layer that the underlying truth frightens us. We have learnt to ignore the depth to such a degree that we follow the footpath of positive psychology, from one landmark to another, to avoid abyss at any price, the abyss of the unknown that the subconscious mind knows.
Louise Bourgeois is crossing the boundaries of any of the definitions and exploring and emphasizing on the prevailing forces of the subconsciousness of the 20th century
Louise Bourgeois graced this planet with her presence spanning almost a century, during which she created a wide range of artistic pieces in different languages of materials and expression. She is one of the artists of 20th century who always came back to the psychology, self observation, getting back to the core, finding essence in the childhood memories and events.
