There is a wonderful playfulness in Marisa Attard’s illustrative art. People in illuminated dress bounce about and spring and dance and kiss each other. They sit on impossibly long stools and wear incredible patterns and awesome colours. They are funny and, at times, satirical. Her works are, without a doubt, surreal in their essential nature and, yet, the characters she depicts are definitely at the core of our very own society.

Her discerning eye notes, sketches and then distorts but in the process creates the most instantaneously lovable works of art possible.

“I carry sketch books with me everywhere,” she told me, “and I’m always on the lookout for characters to draw... secretly.” But the process of transferring those sketches to finished works of art is quite circuitous.

“When I start working, I don’t even know what it’s going to look like in the end. But I have drawers full of stuff  and there is always something to match the characters I paint.”

Because Attard’s works are not just paintings but also collages, made up of decorative papers, lace, cloth... and even a washer or two. But, amazingly, all the elements come together to form unique works of art that nobody but Attard has been able to create in Malta.

Up and Away

I have known her for decades. She is one of Malta’s top illustrators of children’s books, her surreal style creating an innovative look that nobody could imitate back in the late 1990s and forever after. There is a lot of surrealist cartoonist Gerald Scarfe in her work and a hint of Edward Lear... and much more than a hint of illustrator Quentin Blake, his minimal cartooning style appearing sporadically in the rounded limbs and pared-down lines of Attard’s works.

But, influences apart, the works in this exhibition could be nobody’s but Attard’s. The characters leap out of the frames at the viewer. The colours mesmerise, creating a deep contrast with the backdrops that are often white or,  at least, very light in colour, which is often washed out and kept to the bare minimum.

I asked her about the materials she uses.

“It’s mostly watercolour and acrylic,” she said.

When I suggested that the acrylic is quite watered down, she said that at times it is but at others not, especially when used in backdrops.

“I also sometimes use gesso, for the hair, for example, which is combed down. And gold paint, of course,” she noted.

The gold is actually almost everywhere, even if there are only hints of it. Attard’s is decorative art, harking back to William Morris’s Arts and Crafts’ wallpaper flourishes.

But how does one describe in words the wonderful figures reproduced in two-dimensional painting and three-dimensional texture by Marisa? Well... many of them are fat. Very fat. With huge buttocks gingerly lying on tiny seats of stools with spindly, long legs and ornate feet.

Iz-Zalzett

They walk around, dynamically strutting, exquisitely coiffured in green, red, yellow, brown, gold... you name it. Buns, back-combing, punk, cloud-like, big hair – from the pixie to the pompadour, the bob and the mop-top. All there. With hair that flows and billows, ranging from the high-brow perfect set to the lower caste’s straw-like tatters depicted in yellows and reds.

Of course, the greatest joy in these images are the dresses on the ladies... a veritable cornucopia of explosive patterns, from flowers to complex, geometrical loops and ovals. There is lace, of course − just about everywhere. And the surreal nature of each of the images continues to come through to the viewer because of the lack of respect Attard has for proportionality. The unrequited lover balancing a tiny man on a needle-like contraption, as she carries a (real) key. To her heart?

Because we also need to read into her little easter eggs, hidden away in plain view in so many of her paintings.  This is where Attard’s activist self comes out to play. There are not many of these images in this particular exhibition... but there are a few, the most poignant being Speechless, with four, zombie-like figures, each with words like “omertà”, “indifference” etc, sewing their lips shut.

Her art superimposes itself on reality and embellishes it, decorates it, caricatures it

Humour predominates in this exhibition but humour can take many forms, not least that of a satirical poke at those in society that deserve the censure of (wo)men of goodwill.

Yes, easter eggs. The “time warp” dance from The Rocky Horror Picture Show is definitely one and the many watches and clocks that adorn a lot of the works clearly pointing to the intransigent passing of time and, potentially, the onset of old age. And, of course, there’s a dig at overdevelopment, as a robust, rotund gentleman attempts to run away from it all, wafted up to the sky by a very tiny balloon.

But what really comes across is caring. There are figures that hug, figures that kiss, a multi-ethnic couple that dance, a gay couple that bathe together, there are cats and there are dogs as well as little birds. There are lovers and grandmothers and love in old age. And, of course, there are shiny happy people.

The decorative nature of the artworks comes out the most through the bevelling done by the artist, often in the form of a strip of textile of some sort... lace, or cord, or pleated cloth, perfectly creating a virtual plinth for the wonderful characters that populate this fantastic world created by an artist who definitely looks at the brighter side of life and wants to communicate it in no mean terms.

There is embedded text, too, in quite a few of the paintings. Not all text is the name of a particular artwork... some are captions, adding a dimension of specificity to the already quite direct meanings communicated by the figures.

I sort of noted that a lot of the figures seem to be of a snobbish nature... coming from the upper classes of society.

Tsektsik

But that might have been erroneously conveyed by the brightness and elaborate nature of the patterns applied so diligently so as to dominate entirely each piece. Because there is a man eating his skewered zalzett too... and he is definitely not from that class. And neither is the peeping tom, the top of whose head we just barely make out over the water as the object of his spying towers at the front of the image.

What an incredible show! A veritable tour de force of over-the-top creations that are bright and funny and yet so very true to life that I would hardly dare to call them a caricature.

Attard described the world she depicts as “nonsensical”, which it is, in its imperfections of body and absurdity of poses and positionings. But it is anything but nonsensical in its flow, movement and virtuosity. Her art superimposes itself on reality and embellishes it, decorates it, caricatures it and, in the process, almost ironically, makes it come to vibrant life.

The exhibition is entitled Off-Kilter, which is also the name of a delightful painting of a skewed lady with an elaborate fan, Dame Edna glasses and an anthropomorphic bird, and has been curated by Rachel Said and Alexia Gingell Littlejohn. It is open at Gallery 23, in Balzan today (6.30pm-8pm), on Sunday, December 4 (10am-12.30pm) and December 7 (6.30-8pm). The artist will be in residence.

Viewing can also be arranged by appointment on 9942 8272 or e-mail info @gallery23malta.com.

Go see it. This is one exhibition you just cannot miss.