The Art Discussion Group (ADG) will be holding its 164th meeting on Wednesday at the China Cultural Centre, 173, Melita Street, Valletta (corner with St Paul Street) at 7.30pm.
Artists Feng Xiwen and Debbie Bonello will be represented with the work exhibited at the Centre to commemorate Women’s Day which runs until Friday. The exhibition, Innocence, Tranquillity and Beauty underlines the ‘dialogue’ between the two visual languages, that at times become a heated discussion that might turn into an argument or even a confrontation. The works bring out the differences behind the cultural, social and artistic background of the artist and the different visions and concepts.
Feng’s cultural concept saturated in Zen – ‘Live a pure and simple life; see the world with a calm heart and mind’ – presenting a stark contrast with Bonello’s symbolic aspects of life such as the ‘cycle of life, female sexuality and the challenges and opportunities faced by women in contemporary society’. The former is about simple living, the latter about rebellion inside a woman’s heart.
The dialogue is about life’s journey. Feng has learnt to sing and swing in the cage while Bonello has flown out of the gilded cage in search of adventure and fulfilment. Feng is content in her simple world. Bonello exults in its beauty. Feng finds peace and contentment in sublimated feeling while Bonello overflows with emotion and sentiment. Feng is spiritual while Bonello is sensually emotional.
Both expressions are romantic, therapeutic, symbolic and yearn for tranquillity, serenity and peace. Both are lyrical and poetic. Both are a palliative. Feng is passive in contemplation and meditation. Bonello is active in vigorous action. For Feng taking risks and chances might end in friction.
For Bonello risk is responsibility in liberty. Feng is the calm after the storm while Bonello is the hurricane itself. The empathy with nature is explicit in both. Both expressions convey or intimate a joie de vivre and an élan vital in different doses.
A PowerPoint presentation will include all the work represented in the exhibition. The presentation of the images will be followed by an analysis, a discussion and question time.
Through the Branches