Maxwell Alexandre
Brazilian artist, lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His poetics consists of the construction of narratives and scenes structured from his daily experiences in the city and in Rocinha, a favela that stands out for being the largest and most populous in the country, with around 70,000 inhabitants, located in the South Zone in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell Alexandre explores images that go beyond a mere interpretation of the real. Not only on canvas, but on paper, on pool tarpaulins, wooden doors and aluminum frames, materials that reuse as a foundation for its aesthetic construction, the artist paints scenes and daily actions of the favela, black bodies in moments of confrontation and empowerment situations. In the transposition to the pictorial field, his works appear in the community 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 his place of birth, Rocinha. Among city monuments, architectures and landscapes, the circumstances of Maxwell's work are re-signified through symbols of power such as superheroes, video games, military coats of arms, logos and city flags and global brands of puerile desires, such as Danone and Toddynho. Powerful images that are transformed with the artist's creative ability to communicate with the spectator in an urgent, serious and at the same time jocular way, such as the series "PARDO É PAPEL", consisting of works in monumental format. In this series, which is configured as a set of paintings expanded to the political field, Maxwell addresses the African ancestry and the empowerment of contemporary Brazilian society from the favelas. The colors and elements present in the drawings intensify the contrast between the black bodies in positions of power and the paper, which gives name to a color previously used to veil blackness. "Good" was the term found in birth certificates, in curricula and identity cards of blacks, however, nowadays, with the growth of debates, the awareness of racism, the demands and the great changes that occurred in the political glossary of the 10 years, blacks began to project their voices, to understand and be proud of what one is, understanding that the term was used in favor of a whitening of the race. In addition to his studies of art and his season as a professional skater, between the ages of 14 and 26, Maxwell joined a group of artists and designers and created his own non-denominational church, the Church of the Kingdom of Art or the bride - whose faith and path the artistic process to access the divine. Any production of the artist within this religion can be understood as a prayer, as well as any space, where this doing operates, can be understood as a temple: ateliers, houses and street. Artists are apostles, prophets, saints and pastors. To exercise this faith in art, they perform services, rituals and ceremonies ranging from baptisms, pilgrimages, offerings to Santa Supper and Pecadão - the famous parties.
Graduated in Design at PUC-RJ (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro), in 2016. In the years 2006 and 2009, he participated in the Photography Course for Registration of Works of the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In 2020, he participated in the artistic residency in Morocco at the invitation of Macaal - Museum of Contemporary Art African, Marrakech that resulted in a large installation at the institution for the collective exhibition "Have You Seen a Horizon Lately?". In the second half of the year, his next individual is scheduled at the David Zwirner London Gallery in England. In 2019, itinerou with his individual "brown is paper", held it at sea - Rio Art Museum, and also at Mac Lyon - Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, France, his first international individual. Also in the same year, and received the São Sebastião de Cultura 2018 Award, from the Cultural Association of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, in the Plastic Arts category. In 2018, he participated in the Artistic Residency at the Delfina Foundation, London, and in the collective exhibitions "Cretes da Art Brasileira" at Art Berlin Fair, Berlin, Urgent Chronicles at the Fortes d'Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo, and "Afro-Atlantic Stories" at MASP - São Paulo Museum of Art. In 2018, he held his first solo exhibition in a gallery, "O Baptismo de Maxwell Alexandre" and participated in the press conference "Abre Alas 14", both in A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, he joined the collective exhibition "Carpentry for all" at Carpentaria, an arm from Rio de Janeiro at the São Paulo gallery Fortes d'Aloia & Gabriel and performed the solo "Laje only exists with people" at Rocinha Surfer Escola, Complexo Esportivo da Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro, shows that he exhibited for the first time that the series "PARDO É PAPEL". from Sao Paulo; São Paulo Museum of Art; Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, France and Perez Art Museum Miami, United States.
Criticism
In the case of Maxwell The desire to become a hero comes from this desire to overcome the average, to have a superhuman agency about his existence, and somehow approach the myths, the gods, the enlightened, powerful, notorious beings. [...] by altering and perfecting his image, architecting his own archeology, in a kind of insurgency against social conditionings and powers that interfere in reality: churches, religions, corporations, military forces, media, society, politics.
Boa Nova 4:01, about "The Baptism of Maxwell Alexandre", Raoni Azevedo, 2018.
Brazilian artist, lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His poetics consists of the construction of narratives and scenes structured from his daily experiences in the city and in Rocinha, a favela that stands out for being the largest and most populous in the country, with around 70,000 inhabitants, located in the South Zone in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell Alexandre explores images that go beyond a mere interpretation of the real.
Source: A Gentil Carioca
