Interview: Christopher Maxwell
Luca Curci talks with Christopher Maxwell during CONTEMPORARY VENICE 2021 at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello.

Originally from New Zealand, now based in Amsterdam, I have travelled the world for many years soaking up all the amazing colours, sounds, sights and cultures of the incredible countries and people that I have had the good fortune to visit, explore and meet. This year, all of these influences have come to the surface and are now flowing out of me via my brush to the canvas.

Luca Curci – How did you get to your current artistic practice?
Christopher Maxwell – The way into my current artistic practice happened by accident, really. I bought my partner a set of paints with canvas and acrylics. In the first few weeks, I wasn’t as enthusiastic but then, as my partner insisted, I dove in and didn’t look back. I love it and cannot imagine not doing it. I love to test how colors go with one another and how they can influence a painting with just a single touch.

LC – What are your thoughts while you paint? Do you have any habits or rituals while you work?
CM – I generally go into a trance state when I start painting and I get lost into the painting and the canvas. I cannot say I have any real thoughts while painting as I feel just like I am beautifully lost in the process. My rituals before painting are meditation, followed by the exact same setting up process each time… First brushing the canvas with my hands and then slowly emptying the paint tubes onto my palette. Then a frantic energy takes over as I begin. Same every time.

LC – Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?
CM – I absolutely love it when people close to me, and people I don’t know, give me critique or praise, as I’m new to the art world, I’m absorbing everything.

LC – Do visitors’ suggestions enrich yourself and your art?
CM – I absolutely love it when people close to me, and people I don’t know, give me critique or praise, as I’m new to the art world, I’m absorbing everything.

LC – Did your style change over the years? In which way?
CM – I am constantly testing new colours and techniques and I am often curious about how my first painting came about. But for me evolve in art or in any other passion is very important. I enjoy seeing how my style evolved since I first started.

LC – What is your preferred subject, if there is any?
CM – I guess my preferred subjects are my life itself and the memories. How my mind manages to conceptualise them are quite odd for me, but I am enjoying the process and i am constantly looking for new themes to immerse myself into. My research into abstract expressionism is ongoing.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the festival?
CM – I am fairly new to your group but I must say the theme of the festival is very current and it was one that touched me and inspired me.

LC – Can you explain something about the artworks you have in our exhibition?
CM – “Sunlight Snow” is my imaginating of the way the climate/ mother nature has become so confused by man and how there is no longer a line between the seasons. The background darkness of an unnamed city that I spent time in had the most amazing sunsets and sunrises and at the same time was so often a chaotic scene of cold and heat often hand in hand.
My “Pink Beginnings” painting is my interpretation of nature and humans pushing through the softness and yet sometimes coldness of life. I tried to let the pink represent how I feel in contemplation of my own life and what it means for me and my loved ones: safe but yet fragile at the same time, the faint shade of green is indicative of how we make our natural environment beg and punch so hard to be recognised. There is a hope for the future..

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
CM – Yes I did and I look forward to collaborating again in the future.

LC – What are your suggestions about our services?
CM – Is there something more we can provide to artists? I thought service and communication was great. Perhaps a suggestion could be having a preferred courier company that would help the shipping process easier for the artists. It was just difficult to find a courier to transport my larger painting.

LC – What is your idea about ITSLIQUID GROUP?
CM – You are a multi faceted arts platform group helping emerging artists around the world.