Maxwell Alexandre
Brazilian artist who lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His poetics consists of building narratives and scenes based on his everyday experiences in the city and in Rocinha, a favela that stands out as the largest and most populous in the country, with around 70,000 inhabitants, located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell Alexandre explores images that go beyond a mere interpretation of reality. Not only on canvas, but also on paper, swimming-pool tarpaulins, wooden doors and aluminum window frames - materials he reuses as the foundation of his aesthetic construction - the artist paints everyday scenes and actions in the favela, Black bodies in moments of confrontation and in situations of empowerment. Transposed into the pictorial field, his works depict the community's conflicts with the police, the decimation and incarceration of the Black population, the failure of the public education system and other circumstances of his life and of his birthplace, Rocinha. Amid the city's monuments, architecture and landscapes, the circumstances of Maxwell's work are given new meaning through symbols of power such as superheroes, video games, military coats of arms, logos and flags of the city, and global brands of childish desire, such as Danone and Toddynho. These are powerful images, transformed by the artist's creative ability to communicate with the viewer in a way that is urgent, serious and at the same time playful, as in the series "Pardo é Papel" [Brown Is Paper], made up of monumental works. In this series, conceived as a set of paintings expanded into the political field, Maxwell addresses African ancestry and the empowerment of contemporary Brazilian society coming from the favelas. The colors and elements in the drawings heighten the contrast between Black bodies in positions of power and the brown paper, which gives its name to a color once used to veil Blackness. "Pardo" [brown, mixed-race] was the term found on the birth certificates, résumés and identity cards of Black people; today, however, with the growth of debate, awareness of racism, social demands and the great changes in the political vocabulary of the last 10 years, Black people have begun to make their voices heard, to understand themselves and to take pride in who they are, recognizing that the term was used to promote a whitening of the race. Besides his art studies and his time as a professional skater, between the ages of 14 and 26, Maxwell joined a group of artists and designers to create their own non-denominational church, A Igreja do Reino da Arte [The Church of the Kingdom of Art], or A Noiva [The Bride], whose faith and path is the artistic process as a means of reaching the divine. Any production by the artist within this religion can be understood as prayer, just as any space where this making takes place can be understood as a temple: studios, houses and the street. Artists are apostles, prophets, saints and pastors. To exercise this faith in art, they hold services, rituals and ceremonies ranging from Baptisms, Pilgrimages and Offerings to the Last Supper and the Pecadão [Big Sin] - the famous parties.
He graduated in Design from PUC-RJ (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) in 2016. In 2006 and 2009, he took part in the Photography Course for documenting works of the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In 2020, he took part in an artist residency in Morocco at the invitation of Macaal - Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech, which resulted in a large installation at the institution for the group exhibition "Have You Seen A Horizon Lately?". In the second half of the year, his next solo exhibition is scheduled at David Zwirner in London, England. In 2019, his solo exhibition "Pardo é Papel" traveled, being shown at MAR - Museu de Arte do Rio and at MAC Lyon - Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, France, his first international solo exhibition. That same year, he received the 2018 Prêmio São Sebastião de Cultura from the Cultural Association of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, in the Visual Arts category. In 2018 he took part in the artist residency at the Delfina Foundation, London, and in the group exhibitions "Recortes da Arte Brasileira" [Snippets of Brazilian Art] at Art Berlin Fair, Berlin, "Crônicas Urgentes" [Urgent Chronicles] at Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo, and "Histórias Afro-Atlânticas" [Afro-Atlantic Histories] at MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo. In 2018 he held his first solo gallery exhibition, "O Batismo de Maxwell Alexandre" [The Baptism of Maxwell Alexandre], and took part in the group show "Abre Alas 14", both at A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro. In 2017 he took part in the group exhibition "Carpintaria para Todos" [Carpintaria for All] at Carpintaria, the Rio branch of the São Paulo gallery Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, and held the solo show "Laje Só Existe com Gente" [A Rooftop Only Exists with People] at the Rocinha Surfe Escola, Complexo Esportivo da Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, the exhibition that showed the series "Pardo é Papel" for the first time.
His work is held in important collections such as the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; Museu de Arte de São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro; Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro; Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, France; and Pérez Art Museum Miami, United States.
Critiques
In Maxwell's case, the wish to become a hero comes from this desire to rise above the average, to have superhuman agency over his own existence, and somehow to come closer to myths, gods, enlightened, powerful, notorious beings. [...] Altering and perfecting his image, devising an archaeology of his own, in a kind of insurgency against the social conditioning and powers that interfere with reality: churches, religions, corporations, military forces, media, society, politics.
Boa Nova 4:01, on "O Batismo de Maxwell Alexandre", Raoni Azevedo, 2018.
Brazilian artist who lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His poetics consists of building narratives and scenes based on his everyday experiences in the city and in Rocinha, a favela that stands out as the largest and most populous in the country, with around 70,000 inhabitants, located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell Alexandre explores images that go beyond a mere interpretation of reality.
Source: A Gentil Carioca
