His debut solo exhibition in New York City featured provocative nudes overpainted with abstract improvisations, and was held at Thomas Werner Gallery in Manhattan's Chelsea Gallery District from September 1- October 1, 2006. This was the first reintroduction of the figure into his work in over a decade, and a crucial point in the development of his artistic practice. Based on the poetic language, physical embraces, and overt sexuality of the Kamasutra, these painted images became clear and graphically confrontational within the windows created by abstract lines, smears, and brushstrokes on top. Sometimes the brushstrokes are sharp with more defined shapes and contours, while other times, Maxwell's style seems to land on these softer abstract forms. Early paintings from the series were executed with a soft-focus effect that lends these works an edgy and atmospheric mood. Despite being an “illusion painted” the contraposition of the abstract –a natural signal real in itself and somehow out of this world, against the representational artificial signs, which have meaning other than themselves, heightens this tension. This juxtaposition produces an effect that lies between the universal and the particular, causing everyone to see or feel something different in Maxwell's paintings.
