Regarding his floral still lifes, Maxime Ansiau says: ‘I’m trying to deliver a visual uppercut.’ It’s a succinct characterisation of his work: these images try to overwhelm the viewer in a sudden moment. Jan Dibbets, somewhat of a hero to Maxime, speaks of ‘non-linguistic thinking’ and ‘hurrying the eye.’ Maxime thinks in images, and those images have to land like a punch you didn’t see coming. The meaning of this work can be found precisely in the observation of the visual surface. These works need to be seen in order to be understood. If running is walking intensified, one experiences an intensified form of looking in the collages and assemblages of Maxime.
Maxime work consists in collecting and gathering bits and pieces and putting these loose parts back together again. Creating a window to the world. Through these masterful artworks that are comprised of a collection of found images of flowers and gardens these landscape are pieced together in a jarring yet peaceful way.
The interplay between flat cut-outs and spatial appearance reinforces the graphical qualities of these paintings. Besides this, the flower works originate from an interest in Ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers. The contemplative aspect of arranging and rearranging resembles the way in which Maxime lays out, reconsiders and fixes his images.