Artist James Maxwell works primarily in metal. He uses the techniques of industry, such as welding and machining, to create objects. His subject matter often employs the iconography of machinery and the objects they create. He is interest in form, and how ideas, once realized in three dimensions, transform. Materials, scale and surface become agents of change. By removing an object from its context, reconfiguring its composition and scale, Maxwell allows it to be something other than it was. In a sense, he is enabling us to reconfiguring ourselves.
"The use of systems is important to the work I do, both in the creation of objects and the development of ideas. Operations have orders. Yet the system does not always determine the final piece. Nor is it always employed. I am not a hostage to the orthodoxy of the original concept. Often the idea changes as the piece percolates over time and new ideas bubble up. Older ideas that keep returning are given their due and are executed. New ones sometimes jump the line." - James Maxwell
