ME: Can you elaborate on the title of this project, Remember/Dismember? And how does it reflect the works you presented at Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq?

DT: Remember/Dismember is a collection of works that traces its origins to various projects of mine. As the title itself implies, the artistic process relies on ‘memory’ as its initial point, and consequently in the reassembling of those same memories onto the canvases – this process calls for putting back all the necessary elements of the visuals together into one coherent whole, thus the act of ‘remembering’. The ‘Dismember’-ing part comes in during the act of trying to reassemble these memories together.

In this process, it felt like, in trying to put back these memories into visuals, a process of dismemberment was also happening. This so-called ‘dismemberment’ happened primarily on the formal and design elements that make up the painting, such as the composition, colour, light, shade and textures.

This explains why the aesthetic of the artworks presented at Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq is reminiscent of abstract and semi-abstract elements. In a nutshell, this is why the project is called Remember/Dismember and how it relates to the visual presented in the exhibition.

ME: You referred to ‘memories’, but what do you mean exactly, as memories can take different shapes and be of various kinds? In what way did these memories show in your work?

DT: Yes, well said, there are different forms of memories, there are personal and biographical memories; there are memories that members within a community share together, these sorts of memories give us a sense of identity, there are curated memories such as the ones found in history books and museums; there are memories that have no root in the physical world but are the result of imagination and fiction, and I am sure there are other forms of memories that I did not mention.

It is important to note that I am not a scientist, and these are definitions that reflect my understanding of what memo­ries are. This being said, I am aware that biologically speaking, whenever one remembers something, the process itself entails a reconstruction within the brain, and this reconstruction brings changes that may modify the ‘original’ format of the memory.

As already hinted at previously, this is not the first time I have tackled the theme of memory; I definitely did so for the project Inspired in China and, more recently, for Aħmar Ħelu w’Qares. In both projects, I leafed in historical art and reinterpreted known masterpieces to speak about cultural dialogue in the aforementioned project and about biographical events in the latter.

In both cases, the connection between the historical artworks and my interpretation happened primarily on a conceptual level and afterward materialised itself in the artworks themselves. For this project, I was more interested in visual memory itself, rather than any political or cultural connotations these visuals presented may suggest.

For this project, I wanted to see how far (or close) I could paint a historical artwork purely from looking at it in my mind’s eye. I kept honest with the task I assigned myself and only looked at the artworks once I was happy with the first phase of the artwork. For certain artworks, it would be months or years since I would have last seen them (either in books or physically). Then, once I see the actual artworks and compare them to my initial pictorial rendition, I decide whether to intervene further or not.

The initial work, I discovered, relied more on capturing the essence and the general atmosphere of the painting and excluded the actual capturing of explicit resemblance. Afterwards, I added actual silhouettes or precise sections/details from the original artworks. The first artwork I started with was Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus, and I did so while I was amid working on Inaction is Weapon of Mass Destruction. This led me to tackle artworks that are within the Baroque period as well as other artistic periods.

I believe you remember that I had shown to you the first works, of what I referred to, ‘a side mini project’ during the summer of 2022, right in the frenzy to finalise the art for Inaction is Weapon of Mass Destruction. I believe this ‘mini project’ helped me to distract myself from the intensity of the theme of war while keeping the work momentum high.

For this project, I wanted to see how far (or close) I could paint a historical artwork purely from looking at it in my mind’s eye.- Darren Tanti

For this reason, I tend to look at this work as a playful exercise that helped me to go through an intense artistic period. This exercise of interacting with historical artworks and investigating the experience of memory allowed me to develop my work in an unexpected manner.

ME: It is interesting to discuss the element of ‘play’. Can you expand on this?

DT: Some years ago, during a discussion with one of my mentors, I was told that people tend to take art too seriously, and it is very rare for artists to tackle light-hearted themes, perhaps even humorous ones, especially in the contemporary art scene.

Other artists and people in the industry have expressed similar feelings, and as I grow older, I really agree with this observation. I admit that I favour using art as a means to address serious issues, because in my training and upbringing, I was taught about art as a higher cause, and the artist is responsible for using this tool in the best way possible. But no matter how sacred we feel our artistic mission is, it should not always be relegated to themes of doom and gloom.

Apart from the subject matter and concept, art has more to it, there is the medium and physicality through which ideas and feelings are expressed, and these media are in themselves valid goals in artistic expression – aesthetic enjoyment is as serious as any other artistic cause.

These reflections are leading me to embrace themes that are perhaps more ‘playful’ such as in the case of Remember/Dismember. I would like to emphasise that play can be a very serious activity and should not be only associated with leisure and pleasure.

Through play, one learns, develops, perfects his/her discipline, and becomes open to alternatives. After all, this is why in education, educators seek to introduce elements of play, as it is the most natural way to learn. In the past I generally placed myself in the category of ‘figurative’ or ‘realist’ artist, and perhaps this has put restraints on me, but through this playful exercise and deve­lopments I did in Inaction is Weapon of Mass Destruction, I was able to explore new visual forms.

ME: You mentioned that these exercises, or rather the method you opted for, allowed you to explore the abstract as well as the figurative. Can you tell me more?

DT: Since it was a process-oriented project, I was open to all possibilities. Metaphorically speaking, I let the artworks tell me what needed to be done. As already said, the first stage of the painting was more of an atmospheric rendition of the image that I was visualising. Then I would search for the actual image to compare it to the painting; I would search for happy coincidences – places where my memory was right, for example, the right colour, right placement of light, correct distribution of masses, etc.

Eventually, I would either accentuate them or do other interventions till the artwork felt complete. One effective effect was the use of the silhouette. As is visible in the majority of the artworks, I used the silhouette of the figures and environments from the original artworks and put it on the initial layer. By doing so the painting becomes more legible for the viewer, and at times reveals just enough to make immediately clear what painting is being interpreted.

ME: And the ‘Chapter 1’ in the title, do we tell more about this or do we leave everyone curious?

DT: As you know, this is the first chapter of this experiment. Even Chapter 2 is ready, but that’s for next time.

REMEMBER / DISMEMBER – Chapter 1, curated by Melanie Erixon, is on till June 18 at Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq, in Mqabba. Consult the venue’s Facebook page for opening hours.