Austin Camlleri returns with a solo exhibition, after an absence of about 10 years from exhibiting in Malta. Joseph Agius talks to curator ROSA MARTINEZ about the concepts and dynamics behind LE.IVA | Anger Is a Lazy Form of Grief.

JA: This is the first Austin Camilleri solo exhibition in Malta for a number of years, the last one was about 10 years ago. Being his curator, you have followed the artist as he matured into what he is today. Do you intend to carry this collaboration forward, maybe away from these shores?

RM: I felt I was in front of a true artist since I first met Austin Camilleri. And when we collaborated for the multi-site exhibition Constellation Malta, that I curated for Valletta 2018 as European Capital of Culture, he realised a world masterpiece. Disgħa consisted of engraving nine poems by nine Maltese poets in nine different locations of the three islands of the Maltese archipelago; poems that could disappear by the effects of natural phenomena or of urban speculation.

Homo Immortalis

Analysing both his previous works, and Austin Camilleri’s restless and ambitious questioning of the nature of art during the process to prepare his current exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv has showed me again he is a major contemporary art figure. So, I will certainly keep on supporting him.

JA: French artist Yves Klein was the first artist to register a colour, his International Klein Blue. This self-identification with a colour has been carried forward by Anish Kapoor (for whom you curated a solo) and NASA’s Vantablack, the world’s blackest black. Kapoor owns the exclusive rights to use it in an artistic context. Artist Stuart Semple, the creator of a blacker black, Black 3.0, has engaged in a feud with the British-Indian artist to “liberate” colours from private ownership; in fact, Austin Camilleri uses Semple’s black, a black deeper than Vantablack. Do you feel that such behaviour, as the Kapoor-Semple diatribe, is rather silly and defeats the universality of art? Or is this an artistic statement in itself?

RM: The notion of ‘style’ was the main element to define the quality of an artist in the past. And artistic quality cannot be reduced to the strategy of using a colour in exclusivity.

Austin’s conceptual intervention on the statue of Queen Victoria is that of erasure and is a derivative of his idea of having the monument physically ‘blacked out’, as a black hole whose contours could change if seen from various angles... That is the reason behind his choice of the blackest black. And he used the blackest he could source, which is a democratic action in its own right.

Leap

JA: Should an artist, or his entire oeuvre, be defined as a factor of a colour? Is this depersonalisation part of the creative process?

RM: This depends on the artist’s choice. I know some contemporary artists who use only black and white photography to give a documentary connotation to their work even if, technically, colour and digital photography would give them many other options. Austin is not bound to any modus operandi and certainly not to the use of a unique colour.

JA: In your walk-through for the press on February 25, you claimed that the exhibition is about connections, about Camilleri investigating the past of his artistic predecessors, even that of those related to him as he comes from a dynastic family of artists. On that same morning, I queried Austin regarding a connection I conjured up as a viewer – the intense blue he uses in his Ghosttrip Series reminded me of the ultramarine of Klein’s monochromes and his Antorhopmetry series. He denied such an interrelation vis-a-vis the concepts of pure colour, blue (Klein) and black (Kapoor vs Semple), and a subconscious conceptual and chromatic refe­rence to the French artist. Is the viewer, myself in this case, wrong to make these associations repudiated by the artist himself? Does relativity, in all its nuances, play a part?

Bandiera Bianca

RM: Contemporary artists are lucky enough to be able to use any media, ranging from painting to sculpture and from installation to ready-mades. They can even re-appropriate languages and styles from artists of the past. In the case of Austin Camilleri, the blue he is using in his Ghosttrip Series, for example, is never monochromatic, as it refers both physically and politically to the changing surfaces and the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.

One of the biggest dangers of contemporary art is the weak ‘mannierism’ of copying the fashionable trends on international art, which just contributes to adding more noise to the visual noise that already surrounds us- Rosa Martinez

JA: LE.IVA | Anger is a lazy form of grief is a demonstration of Camilleri’s versatility through his exploration via traditional media, such as sculpture, painting, video art, objet trouvé, installations, performances and their visual documentation. This exhibition is about semantics, about art as language, about material, about perspectives. How did your curation, aided by Irene Biolchini, manage to integrate all of this into a homogenous, spiritual exhibition that avoids the usual visual and auditory cacophony that one encounters in displaying similar artistic projects to the public? Were the inherent properties of the halls at Spazju Kreattiv conducive to a positive outcome?

The Passport Series

RM: One of the biggest dangers of contemporary art is the weak ‘mannerism’ of copying the fashionable trends on international art, which just contributes to adding more noise to the visual noise that already surrounds us. To prepare LE.IVA | Anger is a lazy form of grief, Irene Biolchini, Austin Camilleri and I worked closely together to integrate aesthetic excellence and conceptual meaning, respecting and enhancing Austin’s own artistic vision.

Curator Rosa Martinez

And the results can be apprecia­ted in the selection of the works and in the rhythm of the walk through the different rooms. This is what I call the grammar of the exhibition. In this sense, I think LE.IVA has created a referent in the history of artistic shows in Malta.

JA: This is an exhibition about dualities. LE.IVA is a merging of two Maltese words which are antonyms – ‘Le’ means ‘no’ while ‘iva’ means yes. This compound ‘word’ sets the stage for the whole exhibition which investigates the relativity of opposites. Can antonyms be viewed as two sides of the same coin, and can they be merged into factors of each other? How does this relate artistically and conceptually to the biography of the Maltese islands?

RM: The works refer to specific characters or historical places in Malta (Neil Agius; the Royal Theatre; the niche of the guilty ones at the Palazzo Castellania, the former court of justice…). However, they have wider subtexts and multiple ways of connection with current political issues such as colonisation, the disasters of war or the idea of crime and punishment, common to many other cultures and geopolitical contexts. It is true that this exhibition is by a Maltese artist and is being first presented in a Maltese context but all the points in the question are universal and international... The current war in Ukraine or other continuous struggles in different parts of the world demonstrates so.

Second Room (C2)

JA: Does ‘Anger is a lazy form of grief’ refer to our country’s propensity to wallow in impotency? We fume as keyboard warriors, indignant at the way this country is being run to the ground; we mourn the relentless destruction of our way of life, of our traditions. The title of the exhibition hints at a short-circuit in our emotions, and that anger and grief are factors of each other – anger leads to grief and the narrative between these poles is lost through the laziness that cripples us from physically doing something about our grievances. Is this one of the underlying themes of the exhibition?

RM: If you, who are a Maltese citizen, see it that way, there might be some truth in what you say. However, again, all this refers also to many other countries…

Austin Camilleri and Rosa Martinez discussing 'Leiva' during the press meeting. Photo: Joseph Agius

JA: Are there any further comments you would like to add?

RM: Yes, I would like to add that the placement of Le.Iva in the niche of the guilty ones of Palazzo Castellania is a strong statement that questions the way in which women and other marginalised groups have been oppressed by patriarchal rules and ways of judgement. We need a more equalitarian and world, and we women and peaceful men can and must contribute to build it.

LE.IVA | Anger Is a Lazy Form of Grief, co-curated by Rosa Martinez and Irene Biolchini and hosted by Spazju Kreattiv, is on until April 10.

Fourth Room (C4)