He sets no limits, considers himself a "experimenter". Max Petrone is a artist well-rounded, a representative of Made in Italy in the world. Known for his versatility, his ability to bring together various techniques and experiment with different styles, he has also managed to make the coffee. Yes, because from a stain has sprung an adventure, a parallel universe in which six different stories are interwoven, imprinted on as many cups illy. È "Coffee Drawings"the new collection of mugs belonging to a coffee production giant. "A bet born by chance', as the artist himself points out.
Max, why coffee as an artistic expression?
"The project came to life after I made a video, in 2015, in which I spilled some coffee on a sheet of paper in a completely random way and around the stain I created a drawing in complete freestyle, bringing a story to life. Posted on Facebook, the video went viral, reaching 4.5 million views. Only later was I contacted by illy, and thus the first collaboration was born, culminating during theMilan Expo. For the occasion I created a nine by two metre canvas that tells the story of coffee. This too is art, everything about drawing and painting, in whatever manner and with whatever technique".
What is 'Coffee Drawings'?
"It consists of six short stories projected onto a set of illy cups. In this case, I was given carte blanche, which is why I was able to give my imagination free rein. The realisation was projected onto cups designed by Matthew Thun in 1991. Coffe Drawings is about six parallel worlds that tell adventurous stories, between fantasy and love, as if they were enclosed within a small graphic novel. I feel particularly attached to one of these stories. It is the love story of a man and a woman. Turning the cup over in your hands you get the impression that the two characters are looking for each other, as if they want to meet".
Who is Max Petrone?
"Mine is the classic story of the child who has always drawn and has cultivated his passion into a job. We are in an era where nobody has invented anything, so I consider myself an experimenter. I try different techniques and styles but the illy project has brought me a lot of luck".
Also thanks to social media?
"If I didn't use them many people wouldn't know me. Today there are more possibilities for us artists thanks to the internet. However, my Instagram profile does not only talk about my work life but also about my private life, because I am convinced that the artist himself can become one with his own life. I basically show how I live my everyday life. I make myself known because people are almost more curious about how I am than the work I do. That is why, thanks to social media, I am also able to produce commissioned canvases".
Where do you get inspiration for your works?
"I don't wake up every morning knowing that I will be able to come up with a good project. There are no ideas every day, and that is perfectly normal. But my passion is stronger than anything else. On the one hand it is also quite alienating, because you can never switch off. Fantasy helps me in this, I travel a lot with my mind. I live with images that I assimilate during the day and reinterpret in a contemporary way. I use whatever I want, I paint on a wall, a wooden board, using acrylics or spray, depending on what I want to do. After all, I am not a puritan of technique, I like to experiment".
Does an artist necessarily have to expatriate to find his fortune?
"I was born and raised in Turin from Apulian parents. My city is a beautiful base from which to create but I move mainly within Milan, what I call a small New York for the amount of possibilities that can materialise. Then there is also Rome or Emilia Romagna but as far as I am concerned I don't travel much abroad, I prefer to take inspiration from my mind. It is you who travels for me".
