Maxwell Davis
he/they
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Philadelphia based artist Maxwell Davis has an interdisciplinary practice, combining jewelry, fibers, collage, and found objects to explore the intersections of gender, liminality, and absurdity.
“My work is a process of unpacking the concept of American masculinity and its modes of cultural production through the lens of cyborg feminism and queer temporality. My relationship to men and masculinity has served as the backbone for these practices, as I’ve had to unpack what it means to love men, be seen as a man, and live with three decades of unfettered internet access that has given me an all too intimate answer to the question: are men okay? In the thresholds between bodies and technology exists a symbiotic feedback loop that serves as an absurdist, liminal site for these inquiries.”
What does being queer mean to you in relation to your material choices? Is it something you consider?
“Queerness in my work is deeply related to liminality: both the visible and invisible thresholds between my body and other bodies, our bodies and technology, and the ever-present mediators of intimacy. Whether it be screens, culture, or the limits of corporeality, these mediators always exist between us. Utilizing the color and light defusing properties of acrylic sheets, I'm mimicking screen language to create tangible, skeuomorphic icons that serve as projection tools to allow viewers to imagine themselves in these physical thresholds. My body is always the most important invisible material in my work, as it is both the site of adornment as well as the activation tool in both the creation and performance of the pieces. Technology as a creation device is important to my identity as a trans person who grew up chronically online in the era of chat rooms, avatars, and simulated life games. The seductive tangibility and eye-burning colors of my material choices are a way of activating the sense of desire that lives at the core of my queer identity."
"Cyber_Squirt_02", Anodized titanium, acrylic, nickel, copper, silicone, nylon, 3" x 13" x .25", 2023Is the work queer because the maker is queer, or is it queer because the subject matter is queer?
“Both! Just as I believe that we are not separate from our technologies, the artist is also not separate from the work. I am personally interested in and explore queer subject matter and the way it relates to my own queer identity, though I do not believe that both elements need to be present for the work to be considered queer. Queerness for me is a relational phenomenon, and anything that relates to it's culture in a way that is counter to the hegemony of heterosexuality and/or cisexuality is queer. Queerness as a relational tool is very present in my work, as it is less about my own identity and more about other peoples relationship to my identity. As someone who is both trans and gay, this is an intersection that cannot be sorted into its individual components, and thus it also serves as a powerful disruption to the expectations of each identity. This inseparability is vital to my work."
