maxim ventulé

(b. 1996, Eindhoven,Antwerp) is a visual artist and musician, known as the singer and songwriter of
De Toegift.He graduated in Fine Arts from St. Joost School of Art & Design (2023).
In his work the use of language, performance and sound are of equal value.
Alongside his individual practice, he is part of the collective it is part of an ensemble, 
a dynamic group of artists and performers producing exhibitions, theater works, and publications.

selected work
cv
 
maximventule@gmail.com @dauphinemachinemaxim

Wandering through the night, seeing cars — if only for a moment — as nothing more than toys. It’s almost impossible to grasp that these are the machines we move through the world in every single day?

The album kleine auto, grote hot wheel (small car, big hot wheel) is a celebration of the childlike perspective and the constant desire to approach the world in an idiosyncratic and playful way. It’s a way of seeing that De Toegift frontman Maxim Ventulé cherishes and continuously seeks to capture in his songs and visual work.

In kleine auto, grote hot wheel — the band’s second album — the world that De Toegift had already built is cracked open and expanded with new sounds, colors, and themes. Alongside the band’s characteristic poetic lyrics, which remain deeply rooted in this album as well, the voice of flutist and singer Carmela Michailidis takes on a more prominent role, adding an intriguing new perspective. The Greek-language track Ýparxi shows that De Toegift cannot be confined to a single category.

Maxim Ventulé: “For the first time, I dared to write about (romantic) love. The first record sometimes felt somber and introspective, focusing mainly on personal memories from the past. I felt that so much had changed in my life since then that I wanted to write more from the present moment. During the writing process of kleine auto, grote hot wheel, I kept returning to the theme of love, exploring its contrasts with grief and nostalgia. The small and intimate Saponaria captures, for me, the essence of the album: it was inspired by a story in which I met someone who had a duvet made from the same fabric as the curtains in my childhood home. That fabric is inseparably tied to countless memories from my youth and literally appears as a backdrop in my photo albums. What followed was a search for that fabric — and from there, a story emerged in which new love, nostalgia, and grief intertwine.”

Together with visual artist Marijn van Kreij, Maxim created a series of works that visually capture the abstract, colorful world of kleine auto, grote hot wheel. Drawing inspiration from 1990s Ikea catalogues, childhood references, and personal archival material, the two produced artworks that appear both in the album’s visual design and on stage.