Artist Statement
My objects, often coy and laconic, play with comprehension and abstraction. I treat making as a means
of mapping meaning and an opportunity to examine the possibilities of that dense and dynamic process of signification. From modernistic design to more eccentric sculptural investigations, I toy with meandering identities, imbricated indexicality, ambiguous materiality, and provisional functions.
of mapping meaning and an opportunity to examine the possibilities of that dense and dynamic process of signification. From modernistic design to more eccentric sculptural investigations, I toy with meandering identities, imbricated indexicality, ambiguous materiality, and provisional functions.
Many projects revolve around broad notions of the vessel, the body, and language, using their intimate
relations to foster doubt or titillation. Objects are focused upon as vital witnesses and participants, reflections and poems, animate and imagined methods of mapping meaning.
— Maxwell Mustardo
Bio
Maxwell Mustardo was born in 1993 in rural New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and
Bachelor of Science in Art History and Theory from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred
University in 2017. During his time at Alfred, Max earned multiple awards including an ARGUS grant for materials research, a Levine Endowment grant to study material culture in Japan & South Korea, and a nomination for the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts/Patricia Kerr Ross Award as the SUNY finalist in the visual arts category. In addition, Max studied industrial design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. His current practice encompasses scholarly writing, curation, teaching, design, and sculpture. He is currently an artist in residence at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California.
Bachelor of Science in Art History and Theory from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred
University in 2017. During his time at Alfred, Max earned multiple awards including an ARGUS grant for materials research, a Levine Endowment grant to study material culture in Japan & South Korea, and a nomination for the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts/Patricia Kerr Ross Award as the SUNY finalist in the visual arts category. In addition, Max studied industrial design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. His current practice encompasses scholarly writing, curation, teaching, design, and sculpture. He is currently an artist in residence at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California.