Maxim Wakultschik Beyond the surface

A guest stay at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf marked the beginning of a formative artistic path for Maxim Wakultschik. Born in Belarus in 1973, he came to Germany for the first time in 1992 to study with Jannis Kounellis and Beate Schiff. Since then, Düsseldorf has become the centre of his life and the starting point of his international activities.

Then as now, the examination of light, perception and material structure runs like a red thread through his work. His work has always been dedicated to the exploration of light and movement – the symbols of life.

In Wakultschik's works, forms are broken down into their elementary components: colors, energies, vibrations. What remains is a visual structure that is reminiscent of microscopic structures and reshapes itself again depending on the incidence of light and the angle of view. Reflections and shadows create subtle shifts within the surface of the picture and allow the depicted motifs to oscillate, breathe.

The artist is particularly known for his three-dimensional portraits, which are built up from modular elements such as thousands of colored wooden pencils. The path to this characteristic formal language was the result of a long process of reduction: from early images of saints and collages to the individual point as a fundamental pictorial unity. The single point as the origin; like a Big Bang, refers to the origin of all things from a small but powerful spark.

In the serial arrangement of these elements, complex pictorial structures emerge that can only be fully revealed from a distance and at the same time appear human as if enraptured.

The portrait forms the central theme of his work. Wakultschik consistently develops this classical motif beyond the boundaries of painting and transforms it into a sculptural pictorial form. Materials such as wood, metal or glass condense into vibrating surfaces that create the impression of an energetic structure. Depending on the perspective, the works change – colours shimmer, contours dissolve and regroup, whereby the viewer is actively involved in the process of perception.

Despite their mathematically precise structure, the works are created in lengthy processes in which intuition and planning play an equal role. Often years pass until completion, which is only achieved when the work convinces the artist himself.

The poetic titles of many works also refer to a broad field of reference, ranging from music to mythology to scientific terms. They underline the emotional and at the same time symbolic content of the works. "The images have to be symbolic, they have to hypnotize," Wakultschik formulates his claim. The title becomes the linguistic essence of what resonates in the work.

In recent decades, the artist has increasingly established himself internationally. His works are now in important private collections in Europe, the USA and Asia, as well as in institutional collections such as the Odunpazarı Modern Museum (OMM) or the 21c Museum. His work is presented worldwide in leading art capitals, including New York, Singapore, Miami, San Francisco, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Istanbul.