Parmi eux les magiciens – Maximilien Pellet

ENG — Interview conducted by Sammy Stein and Matthieu Becker in April 2022
The car stops in front of a black metal gate on an empty street that is in the midst of construction. The light from the low-angled sun casts against construction tarps, piles of rubble, and pedestrian barriers. It’s about 5pm when we arrive at this out-of-the-way section of Fontenay-sous-Bois in the Parisian suburbs. Maximilien opens the gate and invites us to cross the courtyard, go through the glass door, and enter his new atelier. Lissana, his assistant, is already there, preparing colored clay in basins. As soon as he arrives, Maximilien starts working again. He crouches down and uses a utility knife to trace abstract shapes in a vast expanse of fresh clay that is spread across the floor and contained by wooden slats. There is no time to lose: if the clay dries before he finishes, this piece, the largest he is working on, will be spoiled. We observe in silence until he finishes his choreography of gestures on the floor and sets up a table where we will have a few drinks
and discuss his art for more than two hours.