For anyone passionate about their art or craft, a long stretch of time away from that art form feels like an eternity, fingers starting to itch to create. That absence proves how important their art is to them, and that the urge to create is utterly pure and strong, and very much a necessity. This was very much the case for Debbie Caruana Dingli and the creation of the present collection of watercolours.
Caruana Dingli’s first solo exhibition was held in 1985 and she has not stopped painting or exhibiting her work since, having exhibited her work in Malta and internationally also in collective exhibitions. One of her self-portraits dating to 1985 is exhibited at Malta’s National Fine Arts Museum in Valletta, MUŻA, and she was the 23rd artist selected for Bank of Valletta’s retrospective exhibition in 2015, the first female to have a retrospective exhibition dedicated to her artistic career.
Caruana Dingli is a prolific and prominent exponent of contemporary art in Malta, being especially relevant for her sensitivity to socio-political issues of which she is vociferous, even through her art. She, however, also focuses on her own reality, as was the case with her solo exhibition Facing Myself, held in 2018 after a car accident that took place in 2016.
The starting point for this present collection stemmed from doodles that were created very naturally and unwittingly by Caruana Dingli at a worrying time. These doodles, executed with a biro and paper that were easily available to her, were a form of release, a release from a particularly stressful moment from which Caruana Dingli needed to escape, even if fleetingly.
She later came to realise that among these doodles, there emerged a very strong Maltese element; this was the start of her next project and the theme of her next solo exhibition, her last one being a large collection of oil paintings on an overlooked aspect of motherhood held in Valletta between April and May 2021, titled Nothing Really Matters.
And therefore, this exhibition of watercolours executed in the last few months, titled The Cappuccino Brigade, being held at The Phoenicia Malta’s Palm Court Lounge, is Caruana Dingli’s ninth solo exhibition; each painting is based on her observations of us, the native Maltese population.
The starting point for this present collection stemmed from doodles that were created very naturally and unwittingly by Caruana Dingli at a worrying time
Her talent for painting is indisputable. Besides being an astute portraitist and renowned watercolorist, Caruana Dingli also reveals her keen sense of observation in her quirky, clever and witty cartoon-like paintings that share traits that are unique to the artist.
Each of her paintings tells a story in a simple and effective way. They are, of course, exaggerations of reality, with amplified features and gestures, and which are very much based on actuality. What comes across is what to her and many of us Maltese, is a truly Maltese identity, warts and all, sometimes literally.
The paintings are executed with fluid wet-on-wet, or alla prima watercolour technique that is very unforgiving, above which are multiple drawn lines in sections of the composition which focus our attention on the story being told. These lines in ink reveal the flurry of activity with which these paintings were executed, with Caruana Dingli being at that moment completely lost in her work.
She employs a vibrant palette for these compositions which goes very well with the theme of the Maltese, who can be very loud and proud: just look at the title piece of the exhibition. This is not to say that there aren’t more sombre and poignant paintings included in this collection, such as The Wedding Photo.
There is bound to be something that we, Maltese, will associate with, giggle or even laugh at, and for foreigners to get to know us colourful Maltese better.
The Cappuccino Brigade, curated by Charlene Vella, will be open throughout the month of September at The Palm Court Lounge, The Phoenicia, Floriana.