Bernard Saint-Maxent, on "The art of laughing":

With his creased trousers above his big clumpy shoes, his frock coat spattered with paint, his metal-rimmed spectacles and his crew cut, the character is busy working on a canvas. An inexhaustible painter, he colors the patterns or the objects sticking to the white space. Red is his favorite color, the paint roller his preferred tool, the ladder is his essential accessory and sometimes scaffolding is, too. He who does not have a name is recognized at first glimpse, he who has been signing all of Bernard Saint-Maxent’s creations for the past 10 years. Standing in precarious balance on incongruous supports, he keeps on writing tirelessly that life is beautiful, love is there, art is funny and humor is art… Nothing else matters. His work, never completed, sometimes clumsy, always jubilant, invites us to enter a world on the edge of absurdity, but also full of tenderness. He sometimes gets tempted by serious subjects but cannot help painting pink barbed wire and red roses. His only message lies in the happiness which gives color to life and doesn’t take itself seriously. To provoke a spontaneous smile is his only ambition. This is an art of laughing which, through the canvas, brings us back to sum and substance.

Chasen Galleries is proud to be the EXCLUSIVE REPRESENTATIVE of Bernard Saint-Maxent in the United States.

Hailing from Southwestern France, near Spain, Maxent creates vibrant works of wall sculpture populated with small figures who go about their business of making art with pure joy, humor, and clumsy antics. Maxent's artworks are completely unique and sure to bring something special to your collection.