MaxiRina Unlimited

Maximilien Volckaert
Artist / Designer / Botanist

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Maximilien Volckaert was born in Ghent, Belgium, hailing from a 200-year heritage of generational botanists and family history rooted 800 years. Credited with pioneering new waves in horticulture and cultivating myriad plants including the Belgian endive, the family name often accompanied the plant into botanical encyclopedias. Young Max was steeped in and intrigued by this wondrous world of the art of nature. This primal inspiration compelled him to leap beyond the conventional modes and forge new grounds throughout his own esteemed career. Building a plant production empire in Spain with distribution outreach throughout Europe, Max developed a passion for the environment, implementing experimental technologies in his massive greenhouses.

Having studied abroad (including the U.S.) and traveled into remote regions of Central and South America and the Ivory Coast for botanical research, Max¹s sense of adventure and artistic originality always sprung new and revolutionary concepts. Inspired by Mediterranean cultures and influenced by the resplendence of Barcelona¹s Gaudi, Sert and Miro, he began to focus more on art. Mixed media captured his imagination.

In 1990 Max chose Malibu, California for a chapter of art that focused on socio-political and religious reflections expressed in Baroque juxtapositions. His ³Pandora¹s Box² statement on the Gulf War was claimed by New York¹s Hofstra Museum. He was compared to Warhol and described as ³beyond surrealism.²

In 1992 Max took another pivotal leap by introducing an innovative line of functional art ³faux stone² furnishings inlaid with marble mosaic. Powerful, classical and austere, this ³Etruscan² series showcased successfully on Melrose Avenue with exclusive creations for entertainment industry notables, interior architects/designers and corporate clients.

Max was married in Gibraltar to writer Rina Shelly Orid whose novel, The Brass Bed, is being geared for publication and film. Having worked in national politics, international business and the arts, Rina has merged with her husband in creative alchemy to form MaxIRina Unlimited. Referred to by her husband as muse and ambassador, she directed their partnership¹s helm towards Europe.

With Europe beckoning in 1993, Max was commissioned for Monaco¹s Club des Artists VIP room. Philanthropist Martin Gray invited Max to contribute to his multi-cultural Projet Futur in South France ­ an ambitious vision with artistic commentary on war/peace, life/death. Max created an olive tree mixed-media mosaic floor ³Tree of Peace² amidst powerful statements of an amphitheatre lined with rusty World War II tankchains. He also constructed a contemporary sculpted statement of the coming apart on the Berlin Wall.

Washington, DC followed Europe for specialized training in acrylic and metal sculpting to incorporate into his stone motif. The MV Odyssey of FuturPast was forged by MaxIRina Unlimited. This dynamic fusion magnetized private collectors and commercial assignments, resulting in representation by the Zenith Gallery, which featured the artist in 1997. Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar and La Jolla followed.

Max and Rina have chosen their beloved San Francisco as their United States homebase, with their youngest children nearby. He has innovated a unique concept that coalesces in celebration his love of botany and environment with artistic exclamation. With the regal orchid as focus, Max is creating a series of paintings ­ acrylic paint on recycled wood ­ that explore the soul of the orchid as art. Each painting is framed with sculpted leaves that symbolize herbs, plants, the forest that gifts us oxygen and that needs to be honored with consciousness in return. This is organic, sustainable art in all its magic and original power. AndŠ he has sculpted an ornate Green Earth supported by symbolic hands in homage to our planet as it thrives with the consciousness of new paradigm.

Maximilien Volckaert keeps cutting and sculpting his edge.