BUY ME
SPILLING ZOË - 2026
Title and text by Maria Pia Napolitano de Majo
At the heart of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich lies the Vestibule—a liminal space that traditionally connects an exterior to an interior. Here, artist Maximilian Gutmair presents Spilling Zoë, a sculptural fountain that repurposes the architecture of the space. Serving both functional and ornamental aims, reminiscent of a displaced baroque garden, the visitor can here indulge in a moment of contemplation.
The name Zoë translates to ‘life,’ derived from the Ancient Greek verb ζῶ, ‘to live.’ The term—commonly used as a feminine name—sums and synthesizes the feminine (ἡ ζωή, ‘life’) and neuter (τὸ ζῷον, ‘living being’) Ancient Greek nouns, symbolizing life in its most spiritual essence, in contrast with bios (physical life) and psyche (intellectual life). Thus, Zoë is the essence of life. As creator, the artist spills their art into the world; metonymically, Zoë spills water—a metaphor for the flow of life.
Zoë is abundant, redundant, and excessive, queering what one would label a baroque artwork. Zoë is ‘hyper-baroque’, it transcends essentialism, becoming a creature that defies categorization. Crafted from the sinuosity of clay, the work develops in ascendant movement, evoking forms such as the catholic Baroque Spires of Naples, or tribal totems. Its shape resonates with architectures associated to various belief systems, yet its intention is rooted in spirituality, aiming to connect with a higher state of being, transforming the act of creation into a symbol of existence.
In its verticality, Zoë reveals layered scenes. The lower level conjures underwater caverns, transitioning from dark blues to lighter hues, creating an ecosystem that evokes a primitive sense of awe in presence of the unknown. Its next level condenses the interplay of masculine and feminine elements manifested both figuratively and symbolically. Narcissi, vulvas, and scrota intertwine with salivating tongues and outstretched palms, showcasing a blend of recognizable forms within the sculptural fabric—a hallmark of Bruno Gironcoli’s school of influence. However, Gutmair’s work exceeds postmodernity; it embodies what we called ‘hyper-baroque’ excess as a pathway to spirituality, embracing and sublimating extremes. The artist’s proximity to the contemporary scene of electronic music culture is reflected in the design of Spilling Zoë’s halfway mark: typical blades one might find tattooed on skins of the techno youth are here a sublimation of anger and violence into the next state of being. Thus, the higher levels of the fountain transition into bright, almost neon glazes of a hallucination that is led by the dream of post-binary togetherness.
Born in Bamberg and raised in Isny im Allgäu, in southern Germany, Maximilian Gutmair spent his early years surrounded by nature and his family’s nursery plants. Later, seeking greater freedom and a vibrant queer community, he moved to the city of Munich. After completing his training as a floral designer in 2016, the artist began his studies in Fine Arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. A formative Erasmus year at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome further enriched his sculptural and material practice. The encounter with Rome also meant the translation of Gutmair’s ceramics practice into the creation of fountains, which allowed for a more free and dynamic poetic narrative. In his words «there are so many big important fountains [in Rome], and Romans have a lot of humor…».
In fact, humor is an essential layer to understanding Gutmair’s work. In its analysis, one may draw from literary concepts introduced by Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, particularly the notion of the ‘grotesque body’ as in his reading of François Rabelais’ La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel. Rabelais subverts the social and religious conventions of its time using humor to critique seriousness and authority, exposing the absurdity of norms through exaggerated caricatures. His grotesque descriptions transform the sacred into the profane. Conversely, we argue that Gutmair’s poetics embodies an ascending motion from the body—its functions and tensions—toward a deeper spiritual understanding of life. This perspective reveals that life does not end with death but continues through creation, ‘spilling zoë.’
At the heart of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich lies the Vestibule—a liminal space that traditionally connects an exterior to an interior. Here, artist Maximilian Gutmair presents Spilling Zoë, a sculptural fountain that repurposes the architecture of the space. Serving both functional and ornamental aims, reminiscent of a displaced baroque garden, the visitor can here indulge in a moment of contemplation.
The name Zoë translates to ‘life,’ derived from the Ancient Greek verb ζῶ, ‘to live.’ The term—commonly used as a feminine name—sums and synthesizes the feminine (ἡ ζωή, ‘life’) and neuter (τὸ ζῷον, ‘living being’) Ancient Greek nouns, symbolizing life in its most spiritual essence, in contrast with bios (physical life) and psyche (intellectual life). Thus, Zoë is the essence of life. As creator, the artist spills their art into the world; metonymically, Zoë spills water—a metaphor for the flow of life.
Zoë is abundant, redundant, and excessive, queering what one would label a baroque artwork. Zoë is ‘hyper-baroque’, it transcends essentialism, becoming a creature that defies categorization. Crafted from the sinuosity of clay, the work develops in ascendant movement, evoking forms such as the catholic Baroque Spires of Naples, or tribal totems. Its shape resonates with architectures associated to various belief systems, yet its intention is rooted in spirituality, aiming to connect with a higher state of being, transforming the act of creation into a symbol of existence.
In its verticality, Zoë reveals layered scenes. The lower level conjures underwater caverns, transitioning from dark blues to lighter hues, creating an ecosystem that evokes a primitive sense of awe in presence of the unknown. Its next level condenses the interplay of masculine and feminine elements manifested both figuratively and symbolically. Narcissi, vulvas, and scrota intertwine with salivating tongues and outstretched palms, showcasing a blend of recognizable forms within the sculptural fabric—a hallmark of Bruno Gironcoli’s school of influence. However, Gutmair’s work exceeds postmodernity; it embodies what we called ‘hyper-baroque’ excess as a pathway to spirituality, embracing and sublimating extremes. The artist’s proximity to the contemporary scene of electronic music culture is reflected in the design of Spilling Zoë’s halfway mark: typical blades one might find tattooed on skins of the techno youth are here a sublimation of anger and violence into the next state of being. Thus, the higher levels of the fountain transition into bright, almost neon glazes of a hallucination that is led by the dream of post-binary togetherness.
Born in Bamberg and raised in Isny im Allgäu, in southern Germany, Maximilian Gutmair spent his early years surrounded by nature and his family’s nursery plants. Later, seeking greater freedom and a vibrant queer community, he moved to the city of Munich. After completing his training as a floral designer in 2016, the artist began his studies in Fine Arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. A formative Erasmus year at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome further enriched his sculptural and material practice. The encounter with Rome also meant the translation of Gutmair’s ceramics practice into the creation of fountains, which allowed for a more free and dynamic poetic narrative. In his words «there are so many big important fountains [in Rome], and Romans have a lot of humor…».
In fact, humor is an essential layer to understanding Gutmair’s work. In its analysis, one may draw from literary concepts introduced by Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, particularly the notion of the ‘grotesque body’ as in his reading of François Rabelais’ La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel. Rabelais subverts the social and religious conventions of its time using humor to critique seriousness and authority, exposing the absurdity of norms through exaggerated caricatures. His grotesque descriptions transform the sacred into the profane. Conversely, we argue that Gutmair’s poetics embodies an ascending motion from the body—its functions and tensions—toward a deeper spiritual understanding of life. This perspective reveals that life does not end with death but continues through creation, ‘spilling zoë.’