In his current exhibition, Once Upon a Plate, Vic Manduca explores the possibilities of the ceramic plate as a medium of artistic expression. The artist talks to Joseph Agius about some of the narratives and the underlying concepts.

JA: Plates are essentially pieces of crockery, designed to contain food. However, craftsmen, throughout the ages, have regarded them as a medium to be exploited and to be embellished with creative intricate designs, thus blurring the boundaries between art and craft. Have you divested your plates from their prosaic, lowly use or do you still envisage them to be used as they were originally intended, artwork notwithstanding? 

VM: I would be very happy if anyone used the plates for food as long as the food is of exceptional quality; the plates deserve no less, at least I think so.  In truth, I do not recommend that they be used for food as the majority are not the traditional glazed plates but a mix of oil, acrylic, pens and anything I can get my hands on before they are varnished. I have no idea as to how that conglomeration would react to food, cutlery and the dishwasher but I’m not going to try and see. I won’t be held responsible for anyone who does either. So the answer is no, in my case the plate is the protagonist, showing off what it can be without the perishable food we love. 

After Arnolfini Portrait

JA: In the 20th century, Pablo Picasso elevated the plate to the sphere of pure art. In a Maltese context, Gabriel Caruana exploited the geometrical properties of the plate to produce his signature abstract compositions. These two artists used the plate for the propagation of their concepts. Has the plate format offered you more creative possibilities? 

VM: Yes. I find that working on a flat, hard surface helps. The plates also give me the opportunity to write and etch comfortably; the etching especially would be difficult on canvas or board but it works well on plates. There have been downsides, chipping a plate, stepping on a plate (yes) and some disasters came out of the oven but presented new opportunities which worked well in the end. 

I also experimented and it did not always work. I primed one plate with ink which I used for lino printing; a couple of months down the line it was cracked and peeling. The creative opportunity is often the challenge to recover something that is not right; to know what needs correcting, how to correct and to work until that moment when you say ‘done’.

And Just Like That

JA: The title of the exhibition Once Upon a Plate suggests a storytelling dimension, attributed to fables. Fifty-two plates make up the collection, one each for the 52 years of your age. Does this also point to an autobiography via plates?

VM: Every work has a story. Most artists pick on a theme, a style and produce a collection which can be linked to each other. I prefer to bounce from one genre to another, one style to another, one theme to another;  without any pretension, without having to have to conform or please anyone. The important part to me is to enjoy creating, nothing else really matters.  

Sleeping Tattooed Lady

JA: Some of the plates relate to art history – Van Eyck, Velasquez, Warhol. Others relate to our country’s prehistory, as in your Sleeping Tattooed Lady. Plate for Ukraine is painfully contemporary, referring to the turmoil affecting that country right now. Can you tell me more about the dynamics of the narrative you are pursuing?

Plate for Ukraine

VM: I am forever picking up my art books and browsing through them. I often stop at something that I have probably seen a hundred times before and decide that I want to interpret it. Le Déjeuner sur le Neton (a play on Sur l’Herbe) has its own narrative as the picnic is engulfed in concrete – so the narrative is clear. In van Eyck’s Arnolfini portrait, there is no story, just an interpretation. I very often don’t give too much thought into where I’m going to go with a work. I start off and see where it takes me. I often title the work only after it’s ready and sometimes on a whim, sometimes because of a song I happen to be listening to while I work. For me, the visual is the winning factor, not the story or the technique; just something that you can look at, relate to and, hopefully, enjoy. I certainly enjoyed creating the plates. 

Self-Portrait

"There are, of course, factors like the current war that one can’t not take note of. Everything else seems so insignificant. I have made a promise to donate a portion of all my sales to help the Ukrainian people. It’s the least I can do"

JA: Your last exhibition preceding Once Upon a Plate was titled Fifty Shades of Colour and Fifty Shades of Black, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the E.L. James’s trashy novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The number 50 is a common denominator in the titles of both exhibitions. Is there a numerological relevance in this? 

VM: This is my sixth one-man exhibition. I know I’m not going to make 50, so I have to use the number in some other way. I’m not really bothered with numbers or age, it’s just another day. 

JA: What sparked the transition from traditional painting to using plates as your metaphorical canvas?

VM: I did not make a decisive decision to start a plate thinking it would be the start of an exhibition. I don’t even think that I bought the first plate I painted. Must have been one of my daughter’s but I found it, unused, and I painted a blue Guernica. That was on October 21, 2019. On my Instagram post, I said I would buy a few plates and fill them up, first with art, then with food. I never did get to the food part, of course, but ate loads on the way…

My plan to exhibit was thwarted by COVID and so I teamed up with Christine X Gallery,  in Sliema until it was time to get an exhibition going. Once the decision was taken, then, early morning, late at night, it was time to dish out the plates. 

Zija Mimi

JA: Contemporary artist Grayson Perry also uses plates as one of his ways of expression, besides vases and other vessels. He is considered to be a chronicler of contemporary life and, besides history, his ouevre concerns issues that trouble and torture it. His artistic output is autobiographical at times as well, leaning also into his troubled childhood. For him, an object accumulates intellectual and emotional baggage over time, giving more relevance to the story being told. Do you relate to this?

VM: It would be great if I had some exciting story that would give the exhibition a strong narrative but, no, nothing to report. I can relate and to the people who have inspired me, taught me, the old masters and contemporary artists that I read about/follow. There are, of course, factors like the current war that one can’t not take note of. Everything else seems so insignificant. I have made a promise to donate a portion of all my sales to help the Ukrainian people. It’s the least I can do.  I have to thank my sponsors, my family, Pia Sapienza, Hannah Grech Pirotta, Lara Bugeja and her staff at the Malta Postal Museum for all their support. The exhibition is open until April 16, and I will start working on my next exhibition the following day. 

Room with a View

Once Upon a Plate, hosted by the Postal Museum, Archbishop Street, Valletta, is on until April 16. Consult the event’s Facebook page for opening times.