Maximillian Mozingo shows urban art in new 'Radiant World' exhibit
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on October 2, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Maximillian Mozingo poses with some of his favorite pieces from his upcoming show at the Arts Council "Radiant World." The show, which draws mostly from his personal experiences, will open on tonight.
Painting helps Maximillian Mozingo be at peace with things he's been through in the past. It's helped him purge himself of these things and express to others what he's feeling inside.
He hopes the pieces in his show Radiant World will do the same thing for people looking at his art.
"Painting is very therapeutic," the 35-year-old said. "It helps me move through issues and tell my story to help somebody else get through something."
Mozingo believes that art is something divine that can bring light and inspiration and also give people a voice.
"Most of my work deals with intuition, current events and experiences past, present and future," he said. "I have some urban pieces dealing with urban art, African-themed, Afrocentric, Afropunk-style art. I also have some pop culture pieces in the show dealing with current events."
One piece in the show is titled "Hail, Caesar."
"It's a 30-by-40 foot acrylic piece," Mozingo said. "It has three figures in it and a lot of Roman symbolism all around it. The faces are almost like statues with human bodies.
"I also have one called 'Moon Dance' that's more African-themed. It shows a bright moon in the background, a blue sky, mountains and grass. It has figures dancing around the moon."
One of Mozingo's favorite pieces is "Star Child," an Afrocentric work.
"It's of a female with her back turned and tattoos on her back," he said. "I wrote a poem on it, too. It was very personal to me. It's something I was going through at the time, and just expressing it, and painting it helped me deal with it."
Mozingo draws his inspiration mostly from experience.
"It's just going within and letting it flow," he said. "I might be inspired by an event or something I just went through in my past or maybe something someone else is going through that I know of. I just try to let it flow and let the art be what it is."
Mozingo does a lot of his painting at Herman Park, where he feels free and at peace.
He started his art career by sketching cartoon characters and comic book heroes when he was a young boy.
"I painted one time in high school, and I didn't like it, so I never did it again," Mozingo said.
Not until his 9-year-old cousin asked him why he didn't paint.
"So I started painting this past March and it sprouted from there," Mozingo said. "I believe my art is not my own. It's for the people. I'm going to keep painting. When I'm not working at my job, I'm probably painting, doing four or five pieces a week. I can't stop. I have to get it out."
Traycee Williams, Arts council operations manager, said people don't see art like Mozingo's here in Goldsboro.
"It's very urban," she said. "A lot of urban art has a message. But Max really has a very clear message in his art, yet there is something still so very artistic and so very professional looking about it.
"We think that there's probably a crowd here that's interested in that type of art, and we don't have an artist in our art market or at the arts council like that."
Mozingo hopes that people coming to the exhibit will be inspired by his art.
"I hope they know that no matter what their dreams are, where they come from, where they're at, that they can dream and start a vision and go somewhere with that vision," he said.
The exhibit runs through Nov. 13 in the TA Loving Gallery and is free.
For more information about Radiant World, call the Arts Council at 919-736-3300.