Maia materializes the way she sees the world outside and within herself through colors, lines and textures.
year of birth: 1989
birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
current residence: France
started in 2015
Where did it all begin?
It all began back in Buenos Aires when I came across ‘Pink Studio’ by Matisse. The moment I saw it, I felt the immediate need to draw. I started seeing each corner of my apartment, friends’ apartments and places I love as drawings; that’s how I started my red ink series. I then moved to Paris where I’ve been exploring and developing my style.
What is the worst advice you’ve heard?
I think it’s not a question of good or bad advice, just that what other people can tell us or what we can tell others is very subjective. The best advice comes from within, from our inner voice.
Most beautiful moment during the creative process?
One of the things I love the most about painting is that it helps silence my mind. Those moments are precious.
What doesn’t inspire you?
Mess, noise.
What are you proud of?
That is a question I’ve been asking myself this year. I now feel the need to be more engaged with projects that support the sustainability of our planet. It is a moment of reflection of what I want to communicate and how I’m going to do it…
Who would you like to meet or who would you like to work with?
Recently I collaborated with artists Odonchimeg Davaadorj and Laurent Poleo Garnier and found the process of creating with other artists very enriching both for my art and my soul. I would like to continue to work with artists from different fields in order to learn other skills and exchange visions.
I would also like to travel and work with native communities that are in close contact with nature.
Favorite material?
Paper.
What would you have done, if not this?
I would have loved to be a musician.
When was your biggest moment of doubt?
Doubts appear and disappear all the time, especially when I ask myself too many questions or when I want to be in control.
Who is your biggest supporter?
I feel grateful for always having the support of my family, friends and people I meet along the way. But I must say my mother remains my biggest fan! (laughs)
Favorite image?
I enjoy working with film camera and love this picture I took last summer.
What is to you, the most beautiful sentence?
I’m reading ‘Letters to a young poet’ by Rilke at the moment and I find this phrase very suitable for my present:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
What do you still want to do?
I want to communicate the work of my grandfather Miguel Ocampo, who was a painter, and the work of my mother Solange Bendjeunian who is an amazing artist.
Where do you work?
I used to work from my apartment in Paris and will now spend some months working at my grandfather’s atelier back home in Argentina.
Want to see more of Maia’s work?
makers over hun passie. 