Maxi Hawkeye Canion

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

My work is a distillation of my life experiences as a Black Queer/Trans artist illustrating distinct paracosms. With a multidisciplinary approach, these paracosms present as metaphysical dystopias that dissect the nuances of intimacy, American class relations, perceptive failure, post-gender, the grotesque, ephemerality, and domestic life. Improvisation is my primary creative tool, focusing on deconstruction, transformation, and collaboration to frame immersive environments while unconventionally intersecting sound, subversive thematics, analog video, visceral movement, liminal sculpture, text extractions, and garment through intimate experiential offerings. I facilitate low-stakes, high-integrity containers that prioritize research, play, and spontaneity. My practice is a study on “failure” as I interlay impossible task-based challenges recognizing redirection as a resolution and where “mistakes” are the intended outcome. I am curious how this stimulates an impetus for risk, relatability, and surprise, highlighting authentic life perspectives. I am equally interested in how witnessing alters a performer’s sense of self and how public iterative formats outside the studio can expand a work's integrity through community. Referentially, the subversive epitomized my voice—ambient horror, anime, punk, immersive gaming, meme culture, the Black avant-garde, club-kids, the Tranimal movement—informing my thematic approach to composition. I lean into maximalism and compose work that...

Artwork