The art exhibition ‘Heritage in Stone’ organised by the Housing Authority and taking place at the Gozo Ministry’s exhibition hall in Victoria was recently inaugurated.
The collection as a whole documents the state of art in Malta- E.V. Borg
The theme of the exhibition implicitly projects the importance of our vernacular architecture and the need to conserve and restore our rich heritage in stone.
The Malta School of Art, the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Craft and the Mcast Institute of Art and Design collaborated to present 57 works that were shortlisted to 38 by a judging panel.
The result is a serious collection of works that reveal excellent technique through the constant effort of tutors.
By restricting the shortlist even further I shall try to pinpoint the very best works according to formal values: meaningful interpretation of theme, composition, unity, balance and dynamic energy or the force within. In short, aesthetics or the problem of filling in space with form, shape, light, colour and line.
I consider The Beginning by Noel Azzopardi as the most successful work as it does not merely illustrate our megalithic temples but also translates them into magic and mystery: a rubble of stones, yet monumental, transfigured and transcendental at the same time.
His other work, Reviving Citadel, though a piece of technical bravura, might be regarded as rigidly disciplined in its mathematical and geometric perfection but in reality it is a contrast between a restored part of an edifice and a deteriorated part needing renovation. The light effect is marvellous.
The Old Side of Valletta by Fabrizio Fenech and Chapel Żabbar, Żonqor by Yuri Vassallo are highly commendable . The former, using Photoshop, glorifies the exquisite architectural features of old buildings in sepia, and projects a wonderful elongated console with moulded volutes, inspiring awe and joy in the mason’s craft.
These consoles are perhaps unique and could document a particular designer or architect.
The latter, in print, imbues the Żabbar chapel with grandeur and monumentality set against an atmospheric sky that suggests an impending tragic mood that would scare conservationists and pressure them to protect and conserve it for posterity.
Past, Present, Future by Carol Busuttil is imbued with fantasy and imagination. Its composition is similar in effect to the transcendental quality of a Gothic cathedral with elongated edifices reaching to the sky like fingers pointing to heaven. It is a beautiful work in its simplity of means with blue dominating a hazy and misty atmosphere.
Valletta from Tigné by Raymond Axiaq is a work of great vigour, with blazing reds and an incandescent sky accentuating the tapering dome of the Anglican Cathedral of St Paul. The emotional quality of the work points to Nordic Expressionism and the feverish style of Munch.
Mdina Lane by Fabrizio Fenech is in line with this work. It is a gloriously free interpretation of St Peter Street in the citadel with the almost grotesque Baroque stone mouldings of the portal to the Carmelite crypt, a hymn to the vernacular, the result of great talent by our stone scalpellini.
To this blaze of reds belong Shaping our Past, Reflecting our Present by Ancel Cefai, a cityscape on marine plywood, distinctive for the economy of means employed by the artist.
Silent City Structure by Kevin Ellul is quite impressive in its spacial solidity and massivity. It is a personal interpretation of Vilhena Gate, Mdina, from the interior that is fresh, free and tangible.
The artist suggests to the viewer a new way of seeing things. It is unreal and yet so real. The black sky on a rainy day accentuates the light from lamps falling on the masonry and the enchanting reflection in rain puddles on the ground. The intensity of the scene is palpable.
Roof Tops by Justin Falzon is bold and highly impressive. Through the mathematical and geometric accuracy of perspective the artist achieves a formality akin to a Piero della Francesca. Time stands still and the solidity of form rejoices in space. Rooftops, Gozo by Adrienne Cassar is a townscape in the style of the late Karmenu Manġion; highly artistic, free and expressive.
The collection as a whole actually documents the state of art in Malta. The physical prosaic element throughout projects a people who prefer facts to interpreting them.
Our ‘education’ – based on selection, exam-oriented and at times highly discriminatory towards students with a photographic memory – produces academics with encyclopaedic knowledge rather than thinking, reflective people. Doubt in man is so important for research. We need to instil a questioning attitude not servile obedience.
Identity, personality and individuality do not result from language, geography, race, colour or belief.
The thinking process, choice and the ability to solve problems transform a person into a creative individual. We have borrowed educational notions too. Our colonial past and the resulting mentality has not helped either. Art brings change. It leads not serves.
Imitating nature is not enough to translate experience into expression. It is interpretation that changes prose into poetry. Imitation results in a derivative art, in importing ideas, in mere copying.
Art is creative: either by improving on tradition or by an explorative search for the unknown. Art is metamorphosis.
Part of the proceeds from the sale of works will benefit NGOs through Foundation Inspire.