MAXIM of The Prodigy (aka Visual Artist MM) launches ‘Lepidopterror’ NFT Collection
Lepidoptera are an order of insects that include butterflies. For the “Lepidopterror Collection” from the British contemporary artist MAXIM, also known as MM (Double M), beautiful butterflies are mixed with skulls and deadly weapons that will be released as an NFT-curated collection via Crypto.com/NFT in collaboration with innovative NFT platform Snowcrash Wednesday, July 27th.
Well known for his outstanding paintings, sculptures and ceramics, Maxim often uses a mixture of scary and beautiful images. This collection contains 888 still images of four categories of butterflies, in varying amounts. There are 50 royal butterflies, 50 warrior butterflies and 50 working butterflies. The remaining 738 butterflies are citizens. They all belong to the oldest family of butterflies, the Lepidoptera, and have their role to play in defending the magical golden pollen from the clown wasps.
Maxim’s musical background in The Prodigy (the groundbreaking electronic music group that has shattered genre perceptions for more than two decades) has helped fuel his broader art practice. It is witnessed in pieces that are always based in a surreal world, inspired by the special effects creator Ray Harryhausen and the artists HR Giger, MC Escher and Hieronymus Bosch. At the heart of his approach is a love and appreciation of freedom. “The only thing I have learned about art is that there is no error in art, is there?” he shares.
These butterflies were first conceptualized by Maxim in 2009 after he remembered a childhood memory of an ad showing a young girl running through a cornfield waving a net while trying to catch an elegant butterfly. He thought to himself, “What would it be like if I armed that butterfly?” The butterfly is seen as a frail and gentle creature. He wanted to give it the ability and strength to defend itself.
This is how the butterfly uprising was born. Maxim took this inspiration and produced a collection of works of art entitled “Lepidopterror.” In collaboration with Snowcrash and Crypto.com/NFT, he takes these pieces into the metaverse and creates NFTs, which he sees as a natural progression for this collection.
Long ago, a child from one of the oldest butterfly families, Lepidopterrors, found a source of magical golden pollen. The child consumed some of the pollen, and in an instant all his worries and ailments disappeared into thin air. After realizing the healing powers of the pollen, the child told this to his family, the leaders of the Lepidopterrors, Royals. They decided that the golden pollen had to be protected from their enemies, the clown wasps, to ensure that enough of the pollen was always available to heal the sick.
As a result, some of the Lepidoptera riots were trained to become warrior butterflies, to protect the royals and their workers and inhabitants from the vicious clown wasps. Warriors are highly respected, but that does not mean that workers and citizens have less important roles to play. The working butterflies actually collect the golden pollen and bring it to the center of their home where it is safest.
Citizens are the largest part of the Lepidopterror community. They are either too old to work and fight, or they are too young to choose a path that works or wars. They help take care of the larvae and larvae when they are ready to go into their tits to turn into butterflies. The butterflies all show a side of strength no matter the circumstances.
Maxim comes from Cambridgeshire, UK, and has been a creative artist since 2002 after being inspired to create works of art to hang in his home. Since 2012, he has shown his works of art with mixed media at various exhibitions around the world. He is self-taught and has been known to use many different random objects in his work: spray paint, bullets, knives and pills to name a few.
His artistic images have also been used on porcelain tableware decorated with 24 carat gold. He uses acrylic and ceramic paints along with anything he can get his hands on that will add texture to his work. Often his pieces are finished with resin which he feels gives a certain beauty and precision to the pictures, and keeps them locked and untouchable behind the resin.
Paintings are a journey into MM’s mind and have a surreal edge that takes you somewhere deep in his imagination. Some pieces show rebellion and the emergence of the underdog and the weak. All MM’s paintings contain signs of strength and positivity at the same time as they put “spin on things” and see them from different angles. Grenades carried on the breeze by a raft of red balloons; Butterflies with skulls swinging with samurai swords, and weapon-loving cats are just some of the surreal fantasy worlds created by MM.
In May 2021, MM collaborated with mixed media artist Dan Pearce on the powerful and gripping, pandemic Hope project, which included the launch of 50 limited edition sculptures, an exclusive four-track MM EP and the release of an accompanying short film, with MM, his new music and starring Pearce’s son, to tell the story behind the couple’s sculpture.
Since 2012, MM has supported various charities and donated works of art to raise money for breast cancer research, BT ArtBox for ChildLine, Shelter, NHS Charities Together, Young Minds and Chain of Hope (heart care for children worldwide). MM continues to work relentlessly and is now planning exhibitions that will take place in the last quarter of 2022.
As a founding member of the world-renowned explosive dance music band, The Prodigy, Maxim is often associated with the band’s violent lyrics and lively sense of style in videos, explosive live shows and genre-defying hits such as “Smack My Bitch Up” and “Brannstarter.” He is also known as a solo artist, producer and DJ. He currently lives and works in Essex, United Kingdom.
