“Art is a style of life rather than a lifestyle for me,” according to Maltese artist Louis Briffa.
His life has evolved in unforeseen ways and has taken him to itineraries that were far removed from anything he had envisioned.
“I have a childlike fascination with discovery and I consider my life story as a road trip,” he says.
Along this road, he continuously encounters like-minded spirits that provide him with guidance, mentorship and inspiration.
A young Briffa first met Antoine Camilleri (1922-2005), one of the giants of 20th century Maltese modernism, at his Zachary Street shrine-like studio. Camilleri’s love for the stained-glass medium, arising from his student days studying under Nicolas Untersteller in Paris, exposed Briffa to its possibilities.
“Although stained glass used to be the material of choice to adorn the windows of centuries-old gothic cathedrals, 20th-century masters like Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall reinvented the medium and gave it a contemporary and fresh perspective,” Briffa notes.
“Matisse’s famous Vence Chapel [on the French Riviera] demonstrated such abilities, floral motifs and all, in turning light into liquid colour. I was mesmerised by Camilleri’s anecdotes and his affection for the medium,” he adds.
The artist stresses that “there is a spiritual dimension to glass in that it can help create silent sanctuaries out of our homes”.
“The intrinsic characteristics of glass, its flexibility, transparency and the crystalline hardness of its lattices, act as a semi-permeable membrane allowing light in, while keeping the raging elements at bay. Colour is sometimes added to it, increasing the chromatic possibilities tremendously,” he points out.
The screeches and shrieks, like birth pangs, of glass being incised and cut, the strain and calculated strength exerted to get a clean break without any misadventures, the crystalline granules that fall to the ground as fine dust to be swept away or trodden into the ground, the caressing and easing of the shard into its pre-determined place… for Briffa, the creative process goes beyond his prowess as an artist.
This is evident in his current exhibition, 3B + 1C, which marks a collaboration with the artist’s two daughters, Giulia and Martina, and family friend Isaac Camenzuli. Here, Briffa interprets some of his daughters’ works by giving them a new dimension in glass.
“The glass medium behaves like a partner, at times resisting when the cut is against its grain, at other times complaining when I’m not sensitive enough and cause it to break and shatter. My relationship with glass is intimate and sensual. I treat the material as I would a fellow human being, caresses and all,” he says.
“It is not at all coincidental that I favour the female figure as a central theme in my work. The exclusion of the male figure is dictated by the fabric of the medium itself, although there is virility in its hardness and its ability to penetrate and puncture skin and draw blood.”
The glacial attribute of the medium lends itself to a poetic interpretation on femininity
The gracefulness of the female figures captured and frozen in a pose evoke the odalisques of Henri Matisse and the elegant abandon of Modigliani’s nudes.
When light falls upon them, it invigorates the figures through refraction and reflection. At other times, opacity provides contrast and texture. The constituent elements of the individual piece determine its “humour”.
The glacial attribute of the medium lends itself to a poetic interpretation on femininity by Briffa. He affirms that “these female bodies are like fossils, stratified and ready to be released. They crave liberation, they need to break free from the ‘lattices’ of the constraints of their gender. Light allows them to do this”.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, the genius behind the world-renowned brand, is a major inspiration for the Maltese artist. Tiffany, like Briffa, was not after financial success and fame.
Briffa admires the American artist, whom he says broke new ground as regards lamp design, blown-glass creations, glass mosaics and metalwork.
“He is my role model. I firmly believe in Tiffany’s philosophy that passion drives everything,” he states.
Briffa’s unquenchable wanderlust defines the artist himself: “I am a free spirit who, somewhat romantically, would love to try my chances as a vagrant in a foreign city selling wares to make ends meet or else by being a street artist, armed with an arsenal of spray cans, ready to add colour to dreary and forgotten walls.”
When asked which Maltese artists, besides Antoine Camilleri, are relevant to his multi-faceted development as an artist, he unhesitatingly mentions three.
“Mark Mallia for showing me that smidgeons of arrogance and self-esteem are crucial, David Xuereb for his counselling on technical discipline and Alex Dalli for maturity and learning to savour silence,” he says.
Glass is like music. It has tones, semitones and counterpoint as well as rhythm, timbre, pitch and beat. It tinkles and can come crashing down in a shattering that is dissonant, atonal and structureless. However, glass can also be polished into a lens or silvered into a mirror.
Briffa, through this collection of works, uncovers a world which acts pretty much the same way.
Briffa’s latest work in glass can be admired at Palazzo Ferreria, Republic Street, Valletta, until March 28. Opening hours are Monday to Sunday from 8am to 5pm.