If you’ve listened to the morning announcements recently, you’ve probably heard about senior Max Masterson’s three awards for his artwork. He has recently received awards from the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition in which all of   his awards were gold. He won two awards for art portfolios  he has created, and one award for a photograph. His artwork will now be moving onto to a nationwide competition, which Masterson describes as “pretty exciting.”

His award winning art includes a graphic-design based portfolio entitled “Not Yours” that explores the sexualization of women as well as a portfolio using fruit to symbolize sex. The  photograph that he entered in the competition is a visual representation of religion entitled “Religious Reflection.” Masterson says his art is inspired by “real world” issues. His portfolios and photographs can be seen below.

In terms of his future with art, Masterson plans to pursue art at collegiate level and is hoping to go to school in New York. He explains that art is “really important as like a tool of communication and it’s really unique because like a lot of the time nowadays most of the types of communication you see is through text, and I think visual communication is really important because it kind of gives a new lense on issues in the world.”

He urges other aspiring artists not to be afraid of taking risks, saying “don’t be afraid of getting criticism for your art because like art is about getting a reaction…you want to hear people talk about your art whether it be good or bad.”

Congratulations, Max!