Max Trutt is an artist alias of Maxim Trudolyubov, an architect by training and a writer by trade. As a writer, I am interested in the history of ideas about society and government.
​
My artistic project revolves around the profound connection between animals and humans, emphasizing their equal significance. Since prehistoric art, animals have been regarded as the all-important "Other," representing both our dependence on and reverence for nature.
I invite viewers to take a moment from human wars and other news and to question the conventional hierarchy that places humans above all creatures.
​
​​This is how I explore human relations with animals as others in my various projects:
Homeless Bound: On this boat, Noah is nowhere to be found. This rescue ship was entirely designed and built by the animals themselves. They chose to depart after discovering they were “other minds.” This work is a dedication to all the one-way journeys taken by those who flee war, violence, and persecution.
No Hero: This is a tale of Heracles told, focusing on his victims rather than on the perpetrator. Humans have progressed from a desire to dominate nature (to defeat the "monsters") to a drive to understand nature. Tragically, that change happened only recently when little wildlife was left.
Icons: Icons are more than just small images on screens. They originally represented images of devotion, depicting those revered "others" to whom people turned for spiritual assistance. This 10-piece series elevates animals to humans’ revered "others."
History Of Writing: It fascinates me that drawing came first, preceding the development of writing. At some point, a picture of a horse or an ox became a sound or bunch of sounds.
Illustrations: These are illustrations of imaginary books. I discovered the inseparable bond between images and words when I was little. Only later did I learn that signs and letters had pictorial origins and that writing was thus an evolved form of drawing.
Embrace: Wolves, lions, boars, and other dangerous animals were once genuine threats to humans. One way to deal with that was to imagine a world that had undergone a transformation and was devoid of all predation, fears, and phobias. The leopard would rest with the goat (Isaiah 11:6), and the lions would not devour a man thrown into their lair (Daniel 6).
Galileo’s Fruits: To me, these moons are also "fruits," maybe as a result of their distance. This work is inspired by Galileo's first-ever realistic depiction of the Moon.
More to follow.
For inquiries, commissions, or collaborations, you can contact me directly at m@maxtrutt.com