Nutella out of the jar, late night snacks, champagne for breakfast, binge-watching romantic comedies, or reading young adult fiction... do you ever find yourself fantasising about any of these, or better yet, indulging in one of them, and instantly feeling ashamed about it?

We all have these secret, personal activities or habits that give us tremendous pleasure, yet we hide them from the world. Guilty pleasures are generally quite innocent, but we’re scared to share them with others out of fear of being judged or frowned upon. It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere – an Exhibition Exploring the Guilty Pleasures will be manifesting some of these ideas and quite a few others, through different media, following a notion that originated from curator Melanie Erixon.

Roderick Camilleri - Esse Est Percipi

The concept for the exhibition came to Melanie while researching another theme for a bigger project that she wishes to work on in a couple of years’ time. “Let’s say it was a sub-subject that emerged while contemplating the bigger project, which is still a ‘secret’ for now. Another trigger for this subject is probably directly related to the ‘sad’ times we all passed through because of the pandemic and lack of freedom, and I feel that guilty pleasures give that extra kick to life, so why not celebrate them?” said Melanie, curator of Art Sweven.

From the start, Melanie had a few particular artists in mind for this exhibition, as she knew that they would be interested in both theme and execution. With others it was more of a gamble to invite them to partake, as she was not sure how comfortable they would feel working on the subject matter. “But they would surely produce something I would not be expecting, as they did, which makes things even more exciting,” she said. Then added that she is lucky to find artists who are happy to work and be challenged by her “sometimes bizarre” ideas.

Lawrence Pavia - By the Pool

Eventually, Melanie convinced Aaron Bezzina, Daniel Borg, Rode­rick Camilleri, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Rupert Cefai, Antoine Farrugia, Karl Fröman, Lawrence Pavia, Amelia Saint George, Mario Sammut, and Darren Tanti to interpret their guilty pleasures and manifest them into works of art. However, she gave them the liberty to not necessarily translate their personal indulgences in their art, but possibly ones that they encountered or any other of their imaginative fantasies. The artists also explored different media.

Melanie explained that “the artworks in this exhibition are paintings, sculptures and objet d’art. Media vary from oil on canvas and drawings for paintings. Sculptures vary from globigerina limestone, clay, ceramics, found objects and gold-plated brass. This means that there is definitely something there to hit anyone’s soft spot.”

There is definitely something there to hit anyone’s soft spot

Although she has been the resident curator for Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq, which has been running different exhibitions each month for the past year-and-a-half, Melanie opted for a different venue, for this particular exhibit. And let’s be honest, what venue would you associate better with guilty pleasures than a hotel?

Melanie felt, “There are two reasons why I chose BOCO Boutique Hotel. First of all, as Art Sweven we aim to try to bring exhibitions of a high level to the heart of communities, and BOCO is situated in Cospicua, and in fact, this is our second exhibition we’re curating in the space. Secondly, BOCO has a feel of fun and joie de vivre, both emanating from the hotel style itself and from Tony Busuttil who runs it and has such a kindred spirit.”

Amelia Saint George - Love handles

Melanie admits that her guilty pleasures are indulging in art and a good book, and in a glass or two of good wine in the evening. The wine, in fact, served as a little inspiration for the exhibition’s title. The commonly used phrase when one wants to have an alcoholic drink at say, 10 in the morning, refers to a common time for the end of the working day and when most bars start the ‘Happy Hour’, anywhere around the world. Thanks to this phrase, the little pang of guilt is hushed.

As Melanie puts it, “these little indulgences are what makes life fun, especially through stressful times, and this exhibition aims to celebrate them”. And if you’ll be visiting the exhibition, it doesn’t mean that your guilty pleasures should remain ‘unknown’. Melanie is encouraging visitors to anonymously share their jouissance by writing it down.

Karl Fröman - Art Loaf

Aaron Bezzina - Study for handheld mirror or Narcissus

Antoine Farrugia - Untitled

Darren Tanti - Memento Mori

Debbie Caruana Dingli - Wara l-Kwinti

Daniel Borg - Loop

Rupert Cefai - The Goddess

She added: “I am still not sure how this data will be used, but I am sure it will be an interesting read.” Perhaps one of the writings will inspire the next exhibition.

It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere ‒ an Exhibition Exploring the Guilty Pleasures will be open to the public at BOCO Boutique Hotel in Cospicua, until October 26. Log on to the event’s Facebook page for opening hours.