Massimiliano Esposito, La nouvelle normalité, Acrylic on cardboard, 120 x 80 cm, 2020
FRANCE
La Nouvelle Normalité (The New Normal)
Words by Massimiliano Esposito
October 9, 2020
I, as a painter, have just recently made a painting inspired by some images I have seen of children at school forced to wear a mask and keep the distance between them. It is an image that struck me a lot and that caused me a lot of anger because I think that certain limitations imposed on children are unjust and worthy of a dictatorial regime (here is explained the character standing dressed as a Nazi soldier with the Hitler mask). It is certainly a very hard and difficult subject but it is well in line with the harsh reality that we are all experiencing.
"To me, being an artist comes from a deep-rooted necessity. It’s a natural way to
transform your emotions, fears and desires into a concrete object like a painting. It’s
the representation of an idea, using a language made up of images — much of it
channeled directly from my subconscious, with little in the way of filters. "
- Massimiliano Esposito
About The Artist
Maximilian (Massimiliano Esposito, b. 1969 Milan, Italy) started painting as a child and despite his art school training, he has maintained an instinctive approach to his work, letting his subconscious dictate his subject matter. The recurring figure of a pre-adolescent child, neither male nor female, lends a coherence to this free-form universe. Since moving to Paris, France, in 2012, his work has focused on that unripe phase of human existence when gender is still undefined and sexuality has yet to be expressed. The melancholy and reflective characters he portrays are experiencing the often difficult and painful transition from childhood games and innocence to the first upsets of adolescence and adulthood.