Maxwell Alexandre

Guided by the concept of self-portrait, Alexandre’s practice extends beyond the traditional categories and structures of art making. Through a logic of citation, appropriation, and association of images and symbols, as well as the use of materials of emblematic and biographical value, Alexandre builds a pictorial mythology that touches on religiosity and military themes. He similarly confronts the institutional status of contemporary art and the limits of aesthetic experience.

Raised in an evangelical household, Alexandre competed as a professional skater and fulfilled military service, knowledge that fundamentally sustains his output. He graduated in Design at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), in 2016. In 2018, he received the São Sebastião de Cultura Award from the Cultural Association of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, in the category of Plastic Arts. That same year, he participated in an artistic residency at the Delfina Foundation in London. In 2020, he won the prestigious PIPA Prize and participated in an artistic residency at the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art (MACAAL), in Marrakech, Morocco, resulting in an installation for the group exhibition HAVE YOU SEEN A HORIZON LATELY at the same institution. The following year, he was named artist of the year by the Deutsche Bank and listed as one of the top 35 avant-garde artists by Artsy. In 2023, he was awarded “Man of the year” in the Culture category by GQ magazine. Also in 2023, the first Pavilhão Maxwell Alexandre was inaugurated in São Cristóvão, followed by the second Pavilhão in the favela of Rocinha, both in Rio de Janeiro. From March to June of the subsequent year, the Pavilhão Maxwell Alexandre 3 was held at the Museu Histórico da Cidade, Rio de Janeiro, featuring the series Clube.

Alexandre has held solo exhibitions in Brazilian and international institutions and galleries, at the Sesc Avenida Paulista in São Paulo, and in the previous year, at the Casa SP–Arte, in São Paulo; Cahiers d’Art, Paris, and La Casa Encendida, Madrid. His 2021 solo exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris was followed by his solo show Pardo é Papel at The Shed, New York, in 2022. This exhibition had previously traveled to the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, and the Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, as well as David Zwirner Gallery, London, in 2020; the Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro; and the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, France, in 2019.

His work is included in the collections of 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, Museo Reina Sofia, Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE, and of the Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK.

Artist’s website