Artists and printmakers Jesmond Vassallo, Lino Borg and Justin Falzon came up with the concept of iMprint in 2015, with the aim of promoting original printmaking in Malta, particularly intaglio printing processes, through a series of curated exhibitions. 

Judging by the large number of artists who submit their work in the hope of it being chosen for the next iMprint edition and judging also by the visiting public that expects a level of high artistic competence, I think we can safely assert that artistic printmaking in Malta is undergoing a healthy revival. 

This year’s edition, which runs until October 15 in the upper halls of the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta, is curated by myself and I am confident that, despite all the setbacks we have encountered during the last two years, it will maintain the artistic level attained in previous editions. 

iMprint V, titled Making Lasting Impressions, has 35 participating artists. Except for the Norwegian Olaug Vethal, who died in 2007, all participants are very active in Malta’s artistic scene, their ages (and I find this extremely fascinating) spanning all possible age groups, from the youngish 30s to the young-at-heart 70s and 80s.

Rhythmus, Joseph Mark Micallef, etching

There is not an all-encompassing theme and, as expected, artists responded creatively to this thematic freedom, some opting to deal with traditional themes, landscape, cityscape or nude, others going for a less formalised choice, maybe with a pinch of quirkiness thrown in for good measure.

"This year’s edition, which runs until October 15 in the upper halls of the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta, is curated by myself and I am confident that, despite all the setbacks we have encountered during the last two years, it will maintain the artistic level attained in previous editions"

Apart from the already-mentioned Vassallo and Vethal, the participating artists are Mario Abela, Victor Agius, Lisa Ambrogio, Carmen Aquilina, Lino Borg, Vince Briffa, Raymond Calleja, Austin Camilleri, Joyce Camilleri, Roderick Camilleri, Pawl Carbonaro, Alfred Caruana Ruggier, John Michael Caruana, Silvana Caruana, Adrienne Cassar, Annabel Cordina, Raymond Darmanin, Kevin Ellul, Jason Joe Farrugia, Justin Falzon, Jonathan Galea, Anna Grima, Eman Grima, Joseph Mark Micallef, Stephania Micallef, Sergio Muscat, Nathalie Pace, Nicole Pace, Tracey Polea, Mike Ross, Richard Saliba, Tony Sciberras, Katie Sims, Johanna Uski, John Vassallo and Irene Zammit.

I am convinced that one of the main reasons why local or locally-based artists are responding so enthusiastically to the art of intaglio printmaking is the fact that classes are specifically aimed at divulging the art and the craft of original printmaking in Malta. Such classes held at the University of Malta, at the Malta School of Art and at the Gozo School of Visual and Performing Arts are opening up so many artistic possibilities, even for already practising artists who had never before really thought of experimenting with such techniques. 

In this connection, I think that one has to give due credit to those artist-educators who, for the last decades, have played a pivotal didactic role, enthusiastically relaying to their students the knowledge they had so painstakingly acquired. Worthy of mention are Lino Borg, Anton Grech, Irene Zammit, Justin Falzon and Jesmond Vassallo. 

iMprint’s 2021 Making Lasting Impressions is indeed paying homage to one such educator. This is Carmelo Mangion, the artist who pioneered etching classes at the Malta School of Art in the early 1930s. 

Mangion had learned these techniques, which were virtually unheard of in Malta of the time, while studying in New York’s Grand Central School of Art. 

Untitled, 2020, Justin Falzon, aquatint, softground etching

He was especially proficient in the techniques of etching and aquatint and the works exhibited in the present exhibition more than attest to the level of craftsmanship he attained as much as to the innovative visual language he devised, a language that, possibly for the very first time in the development of Maltese art, found beauty in a world in transition. Not necessarily the idyllic, romanticised images spun into existence by too many a painter but a language that was ready to embrace the old and the new. 

Thus, the repeated engineered cantilevered spans that Mangion included in his etching inspired by Queensbro Bridge in New York  provide an almost comforting, lulling background to the rural scene present in the foreground.

This is the other role of iMprint’s biennial exhibitions: to bring the visiting public up close and personal with the original printed works of past Maltese artists. And thus bestowing legitimacy upon such techniques by acknowledging and honouring their past practitioners. 

Apart from seeing the actual works, the visiting public also have the opportunity to buy a nicely-produced catalogue of the exhibition.  

The emphasis and the focus of iMprint’s biennial exhibitions is upon Malta but not without acknowledging the breath of inspiration coming from all over the world. 

Rest, Stephania Micallef, drypoint

The previous iMprint edition had brought, for the first time in Malta, an interesting cross-section of the expressionistic printed works of the German Horst Janssen. It was a resounding success. This time, we are introducing the public to the works of Edo Janich, a still-very-much-active Italian artist from Valvasone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.Janich is in his late 70s and, as expected, he has a long career behind his shoulders which is comprised both of hundreds of original prints – intaglio and lithography – but also of sculptural works, including four ecclesiastical pieces made for the Sicilian church of San Pietro in Bagheria. 

For many years, Janich worked closely with the Sicilian author Leonardo Sciascia. A friendship which in itself underlines Janich’s intellectual depth. The prints Janich is presenting in iMprint V have a surreal, playful quality about them. Technically, they manifest superb craftsmanship. 

Prestidigitatrice, Edo Janich, etching

Three of the prints exhibited, depicting the Palazzo of the Assicurazioni Generali of Trieste, display the twists and the turns taken by the creative process across decades when a particular theme is in the process of development. They provide not just a lesson in the art of creating a matrix for printing but they also underline the patience needed to let an idea ripen and mature with age. 

Doing art, Janich is seemingly cautioning us, is ultimately a contemplative, lengthy and immersive process. Contrary to popular belief, there is very little that can be rushed or abrupt about it. The meticulously executed Lasting Impressions this exhibition is presenting us with should be enough proof of that.

iMprint V would like to acknowledge the help of the following sponsors: APS Bank and WURTH, together with Vini e Capricci, Frame House Nadur and Picture and Frames San Ġwann.

Christian Attard is the curator of  iMprint’s 2021 Making Lasting Impressions.

Spencer Monument, Carmelo Mangion, etching