'[4] Born and raised in Ulyanovsk, Maxim got into digital illustration and video games as a child.
[6] As a designer, Zhestkov worked on commissions for Google, Ford,[7] Microsoft, Adobe,[8] MTV, Nokia,[9] Adidas,[10] UEFA,[citation needed] BMW.
[11] In his art practice, he aims to 'create a universal visual language that combines design, architecture, and computer graphics.'
Using realistic digital simulations that are based on real-world physics,[12] Zhestkov explores algorithms made by nature and humanity.
In his work, the artist imagines different scenarios of the future, such as computing devices integrated into architecture in his film Computations[13] or artificial intelligence controlling its own evolution in Artificial Organisms.