A tree is a passage between earth and sky ‒ Richard Powers, The Overstory

For the environmentally-conscious person, the relentless destruction of trees on the altar of misguided enterprises strikes to the very core of the meaning of quality of life. Perspectives have gone haywire, and nothing seems to shake the incompetent politicians out of their torpor to finally get off their backsides and re-evaluate their priorities.

Paesaggio Urbano Di Autunno

A war in Europe, in the aftermath of the pandemic, amid a scenario of natural cataclysms due to climate change, is a chronicle to the fickleness and abominable greed of the present-day political class. The idiotic pursuing of the GDP nightmare, coupled with megalomania, are destroying the quality of life and, indeed, life itself.

Fabio Borg’s collection of paintings are elegiac poems reflecting on these magnificent stalwarts of the plant kingdom that caress us with shade, purify the atmosphere from human-created toxins as well as supply us with their fruit as a source of nourishment. Yet, the deforestation of the Amazon Forest continues unabated, and the meat and dairy industry continue plundering whole ecosystems.

On a micro level, our country’s priorities lie in the senseless construction of hideous buildings and the taking up pristine fields to make way for new roads. This folly is destroying our planet’s natural lungs.

Quando Arriva l'Autunno

Borg’s trees are shadows, blurring the lines between representation and abstraction. They are intimations, rather like summoned ghosts, vulnerable and impalpable; they could be scattered to formlessness by the slightest of breezes.

The Maltese artist admires German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, and the beauty of his dramatic and unperturbed landscapes. Borg’s landscapes share this pantheistic viewpoint, which one can also encounter in the landscapes of contemporary German artist Gerhard Richter. “My landscapes have connections with Romanticism: at times I feel a real desire for, and attraction to this period, and some of my pictures are a homage to Caspar David Friedrich,” Richter once declared.

Gli Alberi Blu

Borg’s choice of Le Radici (the roots) as a title of this exhibition, hosted by Galleria Vittoria of via Margutta, Rome, has a twofold relevance. There’s the reference to the roots of his family tree, as some of his ancestors were Italian, from the region of Le Marche. The choice of a gallery in the Italian capital as the venue of this exhibition achieves more meaning, being a return to the country of his forefathers.

Borg has in the past years subdued his palette, filtering off excess chromatic noise to effectively represent nature at its most alchemic, through a flurry of incisive brushstrokes and diffused colour

In his masterpiece, The Overstory, American novelist Richard Powers insightfully remarks: “You and the tree in your back yard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways. But even now, after an immense journey in separate directions, that tree and you still share a quarter of your genes....”

Percorso Misterioso

Powers thus suggests that by killing trees, we are essentially murdering our relatives. This interconnection, this heritage, this ancestry, this sharing of common roots in all possible ways, even from an evolutionary viewpoint, are the heart and soul of Borg’s exhibition.

The trees of Carlo Mattioli and Fabio Borg

Carlo Mattioli (1911-1994), the Italian artist who devoted himself almost exclusively to trees, was born in Modena and lived and died in Parma, both cities belonging to the Italian region of Emilia Romagna. The landscape of the Pianura Padana, a flat land that covers a considerable percentage of this region, provided inspiration for the Italian artist.

Mattioli’s trees are hardy and unyielding; at times the tree is all alone, at other times he pictured them in twos or in thickets, set against the solitude of a stark landscape, occasionally evoking Rothko’s division of pictorial space.

Alberi Autunnali Che Fioriscono in Inverno

Italian writer and critic Marco Belpoliti once said: “La pianura non ha confini, perché è un luogo dell’anima” (The plain has no borders, because it is a place of the soul). Mattioli’s trees are like totemic souls, marooned bet­ween land and sky. Mattioli’s trees have a measure of presence and empirical corporality. Borg’s trees are ghostly, evanescent spectres.

In some cases, the trunks of Borg’s trees, such as in Gli Alberi Rossi (The Red Trees) and Gli Alberi Blu (The Blue Trees), are the only defining element in a mist of dissipation. Gli Alberi Monumentali (The Monumental Trees) is a thicket that has merged into a biomorphic, almost anonymous mass of red, set off against the greyish blue monochrome of earth and overcast sky. Red is the colour of the sap of life, of fervour, of defiance to the dreariness that menaces to overwhelm all.

Gli Alberi Monumentali

Alberi Autunnali che Fioriscono in Inverno (Autumn Trees that Flower in Winter) evokes some hope that, notwithstanding all, flowers still blossom in the bleakest and coldest of seasons. Borg minimalises the meaning of the two seasons as elemental colour, bringing together the orange and red hues of the autumnal harvest and the blue of the frigid winter.

In Certi Alberi non Muoiono Mai (Some Trees Never Die), the viewer is pushed into the thick of the trees. The title hints at immortality, as some trees are known to live for centuries, spreading their roots, trunks and branches across millennia. The tenebrous shroud of trees creates a claustrophobic mood, one feels closed in, threatened by trees that could still be around, years after one ceases to exist.

Gli Alberi Rossi

Borg has in the past years subdued his palette, filtering off excess chromatic noise to effectively represent nature at its most alchemic, through a flurry of incisive brushstrokes and diffused colour. Besides delivering an environmental message ‒ these paintings are reminders that trees are to be preserved and treated with dignity as they occupy an integral part of many natural ecosystems ‒ Le Radici explores the Maltese artist’s heritage, his origins, the change he experiences through the spread and reach of his artistic roots.

Le Radici, curated by Tiziano M. Todi and hosted by Galleria Vittoria of via Margutta, Rome, is on from April 11 to 24. Consult the event’s Facebook page for more information.

Certi Alberi non Muoiono Mai