The youngest artist ever to exhibit at Åland’s Art Museum

The youngest artist ever to exhibit at Åland’s Art Museum finishes with rave reviews.

14-year-old Maximilian “Maxi” Svensson is the youngest artist ever to exhibit at Åland Art Museum and he does so with great reviews and impressed visitors.

Despite his young age, Maxi has already exhibited at two of the premier locations in the Nordics; Åland’s Museum and Lars Lerin’s Museum & Art Hall; Sandgrund. Maxi continues his journey and look forward to new adventures in cities far away such as NYC or Berlin!

“This exhibition was a dream! I still can’t really believe that so many people came to saw my paintings here in Åland”, Maxi says.

When Maxi finished the exhibition this past weekend more then 3300 people had some to seen his work, and/or attended his workshop. The next artist to follow Maxi at the Museum is Ernst Billgren, a renowned Swedish artist and writer.
 
Maxi Svensson at Åland’s Art Museum – Feb 2020:

QUOTE FROM THE CURATOR:
“Maximilian Svensson’s show has been very well attended, despite the challenge of taking place in the middle of our winter season – which is normally the slow season on Åland. Maximilian has had a wide audience of all ages, with the common denominator that everyone has been very impressed by his talent.

Towards the end of the exhibition period, a workshop was arranged with Maxi where he showed his techniques in watercolor and told visitors about his process. The workshop was quickly full and it was interesting to see that both young people and professional artists were drawn to this event.

In order to create a connection to the island of Åland, early works from established Åland artists, which have been represented in the Åland Art Museum’s collection, were also displayed together with Maximilian’s paintings, for part of the exhibition. It was an appreciated feature as it showed the development of an artist’s career and also what maturity Maximilian has already achieved in his art.

It has been very rewarding for us to work with such a young artist who is at the start of his career. We wish him all the best in his future challenges!”

-Susanne Procopé Ilmonen, Curator, Åland’s Art Museum

ABOUT MAXI SVENSSON
At the age of 5 Maxi painted in acrylic. When he was 8, he came across a book with watercolor-paintings by artist Lars Lerin at the home of his grandparents. That’s when he really got into art and started watching everything he could on YouTube, about techniques of drawing, to learn all about how to paint. Most 10-year-old Swedes idolize footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović or singer Zara Larsson, but for Maxi, Lars Lerin was The One. Shortly after he had discovered the work of Lerin, he was drawing for hours each day. Today, Maxi is absolutely certain that he wants to become a professional artist.

In 2016, when he was 11 he had showed his work to the public for the first time, at a small location in central Stockholm. A friend of his dad got word out to some newspapers that the young artist was exhibiting, and hundreds of people came to see his work, some driving 4-5 hours to Stockholm. Word also reached Lars Lerin, Maxis idol, who was impressed with the paintings and invited Maxi to have his own exhibition at Lerin’s famous gallery, Sandgrund in Karlstad. The showing was a success. Maxi broke records for visitors and spent hours being interviewed on Swedish TV and in newspapers.

In 2019 he was invited to show his art at Åland Art Museum.

Maxi just turned 15 years old and he continues to create and paint. His parents have in general been against selling his paintings to not make his interested tainted by money, but exceptions have been made when it’s been for a good cause, or to help Maxi save for the art-school he one day hope to attends. The most one of his painting was sold for was 70000 SEK.
 

HONORARY COMMISSIONS:
Maxi has had the opportunity to create some honorary commissions in his short career. He was chosen to paint the official Majblomman-poster in 2018, an assignment previously executed by Carl Larsson, Lasse Åberg and some of Sweden’s most famous artists. The Queen of Sweden, Silvia, is Majblomman’s highest protector and buys the first flower each year to start off the fund raising. Majblomman (The Mayflower) is a non-profit children’s rights organization that works to combat child poverty in Sweden since 1912.

With Queen Silvia of Sweden:

In 2017, Maxi was chosen as one of 24 artists to have his work actioned off at the Örebro City Hall’s Christmas Calendar Charity. The event has attracted tens-of-thousands of visitors since 2007. Each year in December, 24 new works of art are presented in the City Hall’s beautiful windows. Maxi’s painting got a record for bringing in the most money out of all pieces.

Maximilian also won a contest organized by Uniqlo with his painting HOPE DIES – a reminder to all of us to care for the environment, which is of great interest to Maxi.

Painting – HOPE DIES:

WEBBPAGE:
https://maxisvensson.com/ 

 
CONTACT:

For questions or additional info please contact Patrik Slettmanps@nevermynd.se, or +46-72-942-9734.
Maxi Svensson is available for interview by email or by phone.