Maxwell Alexandre
Edition published by, and exclusively available through Cahiers d’Art. This work is the central piece of the exhibition Entrega. one planet.one health at Cahiers d’Art encompassing and summarizing its subject matter
Entrega [Delivery], is a spin-off of Maxwell’s Reprovados [Reproached] series (2017) in which he narrates the day-to-day life of people of color, facing concerns over police brutality, the failure of the public education system, and the decimation of local communities.
The artist creates a fictitious gaze on a group of public school students in their uniforms, working as food couriers, prematurely meeting their social fate in a highly complex and unregulated job market.
Scenes escalating over multiple paintings portray the students’ foray into a series of events leading to the hunting down, beating and devouring of Dino Danoninho, the popular mascot of Danone; possibly their earliest consumerist desire.
Maxwell Alexandre (Rio de Janeiro, 1990) was born and raised in the Rocinha favela, in an evangelical home. The artist served in the army and was a professional street inline skater for 12 years. He graduated in design from PUC-RJ (Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio de Janeiro) in 2016. In 2018, he received the São Sebastião Culture Prize from the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. Maxwell won the PIPA Prize in 2020 and was elected one of the 35 artists worldwide included on Artsy’s Vanguard list that same year. In 2021 he was elected Artist of the Year by Deutsche Bank.
His work is in the collections of various prestigious institutions, including the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, the Museu de Arte do Rio, the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Perez Art Museum Miami, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
