The concept of what constitutes art has changed along the centuries. Something that was plebeian and coarse in far bygone eras could have been transformed into a unique artefact, the jewel in the crown of a prestigious museum. The passage of time embellishes things with a new aura, a burnish to sometimes get universally acknowledged as art and a past civilisation’s legacy.

Taking this to a contemporary context, one can ascribe particular relevance in Damien Hirst’s words: “I realised that you couldn’t use the tools of yesterday to communicate today’s world. Basically, that was the big light that went on in my head.” In other words, the museum/gallery context doesn’t stimulate today’s audience as it’s not sexy enough.

Omen of Change. Photo: Etienne Farrell

Social media, fashion, TikTok role models, tattoos, Banksy, NFTs are today’s new currency, leading the way to a new and alternative art, at times far removed from the ‘orthodox’ shrines of national galleries and museums. However, things are evolving and these institutions are getting to be more open to new concepts and perspectives.

Duchamp, and Warhol after him, revolutionised what art is all about – a plebeian urinal achieved acclamation as one of the most important examples of 20th-century art. The French artist displayed it as a ‘found’ sculpture in an art exhibition in 1917, retitled it as Fountain and signed it under the pseudonym R. Mutt. This opened the floodgates to new possibilities as anything could be declared as art, as long as the artist recontextualises it as such. Warhol’s glorification of pop culture icons works in much the same way.

Maltese artists Etienne Farrell and Mark Mallia, for the last two years or so, have been collaborating on artistic projects that resulted in joint exhibitions.

Farrell wants to carry this collaboration to the next level through a concept that is original and that does not entail a conventional creative output from her end via painting, photography or sculpture, her usual mediums of expression.

“For a number of years, I toyed with the possibility of creating art that can be taken outdoors; art that can be ‘used’. I wanted to challenge the idea that art is customarily made to stay put in one place and to be visited: just like the elderly in care homes or animals in a zoo,” she says.

Ċawla. Photo: Keith Darmanin

A disposable, consumable, prêt-à-porter, ready-to-use art is the general concept. Farrell further explains: “I wanted to create art that could be carried around. Art that could visit people and places and not the other way round. Art that is functional and consumable.”

Farrell took on the role of artistic director and designer and, after much brainstorming lasting more than a year, the two artists decided on an underlying theme, an extensive staple in the oeuvre of Mallia – the crow. This theme, much dear to Mallia, owes its origins to a trip some years ago to the village of Windsor, UK. Crows, ravens and other corvine relatives that inhabited the village intrigued the artist so much that he felt the need to represent them in his paintings.  What started out as en-plein-air drawings progressed into fully fletched paintings, sculptures and reliefs.

The crow is Mallia’s animal ‘familiar’, the sprite of ancient lore that protects and guards its human companion. Farrell’s and Mallia’s appreciation for gothic literature and film, epitomised in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem The Raven, is a common factor.

“Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling; by the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,” the poem goes. This graphic imagery can be encountered many times in both artists’ oeuvres.

Messenger (censored). Photo: Etienne Farrell

“When I discussed the idea with Mark, about a year ago, we started brainstorming about ‘painting’ his well-known crows on different ‘canvases’. Canvases that are versatile and mobile. Canvases that would accompany their owners,” Farrell explains.

She continues: “Art owners would not need to invite friends to their homes to show off the latest acquisition. They would carry the work around with them.”

The motto that encapsulates the whole concept is ‘Use Art’. Besides assuming the role of artistic director to the whole venture, Farrell uses her design skills.

“I designed a leather satchel, a wallet and a belt together with two necklaces to serve as alternative ‘canvases’ for Mark’s crows. All the work is being done in collaboration with Maltese artisans,” she remarks.

Artist Peter Seychell soon got on board too, so the enterprise is a collaboration between Farrell, Mallia and Seychell.

Drama Queen. Photo: Keith Darmanin

Mallia has this year put his mark, the crow, on a series of culinary products, thus branching out to a wider audience. One of his signature white crows brands a range of delicacies that have clients for them beyond the art-loving audience. One of Malta’s culinary icons in our cuisine is the Maltese sausage, maybe one that can be considered a pop icon in the same way as Warhol’s can of Campbell’s soup was and, probably, still is, for the Americans; Wayne Thiebaud’s portrayals of arrays of American fast food share this same concept as well.

However, Mallia takes this one step further as the sausage and the cured meats in this range, while bearing his crow signature, can be consumed as is or added to flavour Maltese dishes. 

Farrell concludes: “Mark is trying to turn us all into his crows… to become carnivores by eating the cured meats that he has been so passionately creating lately.”

One can view the artefacts online at https://www.facebook.com/MalliaFarrell/ or through a private viewing.