Anthony Lucian Cauchi is putting up another exhibition of oils and ceramics entitled Chains on Fire at the Cittadella, Victoria, as from Saturday.
Chains are a means of control and artists can often find themselves restrained in their thinking. This could happen through their tutors or due to the art education system. And although artists should have full respect for their tutors, as they do their best to pass on what they know, the fact is that an artist has to struggle to find his own voice. And here is where fire comes into play in breaking free to achieve artistic freedom.
At art schools, students used be expected to stick to instructions and paint or sculpt what they were asked to do. This was restrictive on artists and this could lead to clashes with tutors. But this was the old mythology of teaching art. Along the years, artists manage to wriggle out of strict archaic rules and venture out to use their own imagination, streaked with emotional sensuality.
This daring leap was reenforced in Cauchi due to the influence of the late Prof. Orfei at the Accademia Vanucci in Perugia. The artist’s life experiences and his teaching profession have also helped him to go beyond restrictions. This exhibition will reveal his artistic fire in breaking free of these psychological chains.
Cauchi is qualified in youth psychology and an avid reader of mythology and history. Through this exhibition he shows his different moods which wrap themselves around the three pillars of psychology, mythology and history, which form his artistic personality.
Chains on Fire will run at the Cittadella, Victoria, from Saturday till October 25 daily from 9am to 5pm.