In Maxwell's paintings you can see abstraction portraying "an African lifestyle", where one can "see the people", "see the movement".
"But, what I do is I blend both the African and the European together. I'm trying to bring the whole world together because we are one. So sometimes within the African "look", I try to make it in such a way that it's not going to be a 100% African woman, like a woman carrying a pot, going to fetch water [...] I blend the whole thing together," Maxwell explains.
Maxwell noticed his drawing abilities thanks to his grade 4 teacher in school, as she was the one to point out his talent.
"I realized that my primary four school teacher really fell in love with the gift that is in me. So sometimes when it was time for any form of drawing in the class, she would call me and I would go and draw[.] Sometimes I had to take some [tasks] to the house and draw [them]. So from there all my classmates realized the talent that is in me and I also realized the talent in me," Maxwell recalls.
The artist says he was influenced and inspired by Amon Kotei, designer of the coat of arms of Ghana, and Prof. Ablade Glover, a prominent Ghanaian artist. Maxwell remembers how he used to see Amon Kotei come to him in dreams and approve his paintings. He also saw in a dream how Prof Glover asked Maxwell to bring his paintings to the Professor's art gallery.
"You have to feel the canvas [...] there's some effect. I really love it. But these are the people personally in my dreams I've been seeing and then they influenced me a lot," Maxwell narrates.
To hear what else the painter had to say, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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