A retrospective always involves a faithful representation of the artist in all the stages of development. As expressed in his current exhibition’s mission statement, DAMIAN EBEJER’s choice of title Paradox is indicative of this. He shares his thoughts with Joseph Agius.

“The whole idea of organising a retrospective exhibition began after I came across an early 1992 work titled Gossip,” Ebejer says. “I also found a semi-bas-relief work titled Fragility of Life (1998) and a 2016 mini-replica of the Turin Shroud which I had never displayed. I have managed to find 48 works which cover most of the journey and have included some ink on paper works. There are some periods in the 30-year bracket that I have no works to display, since most have gone to private collections.”

Damian Ebejer

His first exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, dates to 1994, to be followed by another one at the same venue two years later, both of which consisted of predominantly plein-air works. “One media feature had coined me ‘a late starter’, which was technically correct, although I had been drawing, sculpting and painting ever since I was an infant,” he reminisces.

A 2007 exhibition titled A Tale of Consequent Parallels demonstrated another aspect of Ebejer as the exhibits were abstract expressionist and surrealist in nature. This show documented the preceding 14 years of his artistic career.

Ebejer can boast of 18 solo exhibitions to date and has participated in numerous collective exhibitions, among which was a collective at London’s Belgravia Gallery in 2014, where he participated with more abstract and surrealist paintings.

“I was again out, this time around Dingli Cliffs in 2013, where I worked on 16 landscape paintings for my Magdalene’s Tangerine collection, which opened in 2014 in a private gallery in Lija. I contribute these works to my love for the Impressionists, namely Cezanne and Van Gogh, who were my artistic idols at the time. Today I greatly admire the German artist Anselm Kiefer,” he continues.

They came... and took him away, late at night (2018)

Ebejer’s oeuvre across the years can be defined by his creative wanderlust. “I have very seldom worked on any given theme throughout my career and, more to the point, never forced my works into a given series,” he observes. “The one time I did work on a theme was in 2015 when I created seven large works reflecting my thoughts on St Teresa d’Avila’s 16th-century book Interior Castle, also known as The Seven Mansions. These paintings hung in a separate room within a 2016 solo exhibition I had held at Il-Ħaġar Museum in Gozo. I had titled the whole show as Edge of Distance.”

Working on a series is not easy for Ebejer for many reasons. He feels that it sometimes entails a repetitive approach and when this happens, he says that he forces himself in what he terms as a “block”.

Realisation of Green and Blue (2015)

“This situation could persist for quite a while, and I actually enjoy it as my mind tackles new ideas until I finally let go and start working again. I enjoy focusing on new works when I am not near them; for example, when I am designing and decorating a ceiling or painting a mural somewhere else outside from my studio,” he says. “When I work on a painting, it becomes very personal and intimate; so, by doing other work, I end up actually missing the object, both physically and mentally.”

This process always allows him to impart new depth into the work in question.

Being the son of Francis Ebejer

Ebejer was open to all forms of art from an early age.  His father Francis Ebejer, probably the most famous of Maltese playwrights and novelists, must have been a very telling presence in his life.

Francis would never encourage me directly to draw or paint. If I wanted to talk about art, he would always be responsive, but he never, ever pushed me

“My late father Francis had numerous books spanning pre-historic art to modern and all in between. I cannot really say what exactly is my genre. I only know that the greatest feeling is when I am working and creating; be it whatever I am working on,” he affirms.

“For this I have always felt blessed. Francis would never encourage me directly to draw or paint. If I wanted to talk about art, he would always be responsive, but he never, ever pushed me.”

Ħobż u Sikkina (2021)

He recalls: “A sweet game we would play when I was an infant was taking turns and doodle around a few random lines he would scribble on a piece of paper. He’d say, ‘Let’s see what we can get out of this…’  The results could have been a dog or cat, a tree, a man or a woman, a snail…. We would always manage to create something from nothing. So, in reality, he would hint. Quite a solid hint is when once he chose a drawing I had made when I was seven years old. He framed it and hung it up in his living room.”

Ebejer remembers that in the early 1990s, the two of them had started discussing organising a father-and-son exhibition, with their drawings and paintings. “His untimely passing away in 1993 put a stop to that,” he ruefully points out.  “Years later, I would hold an exhibition titled The Ebejer Research Project, with the help of Toni Sant. This was put up at Spazju Kreativ in Valletta in 2016. I am planning to exhibit a selected collection of his drawings next year. The aim is for June 2023 to mark the 30-year anniversary from his demise.”

One asks if there are any references, maybe subliminal, to his father’s literary oeuvre.

[slidecaption]Nightfall Changes the Land (2015)[/slidecaption]

[slidecaption]Three Nails of Redemption (2020)[/slidecaption]

[slidecaption]Moored onto Quietness (2018)[/slidecaption]

[slidecaption]Abraxas Lingers at the Divide (2017)[/slidecaption]

Ebejer affirms that the closest link that he can point out that existed between father and son was that both found beauty and meaning in the absurd and chaotic, and made use of their artistic instincts to transform them.

“The other close link is the use of the word as a tool. I still have his dictionaries where he would write the missing words on the fly-page! There is no need to say how beautifully he wrote, both in Maltese and English,” Ebejer says.

He continues, “In my case, I use very selected words for the titles I give to my work. I have heard it said that the painting should speak for itself, which is absolutely correct. The title I give a painting is what it means to myself and not what it should or could mean to others. Everyone can interpret however they like; even a single word could be understood differently”

“I feel the works are like children and when I name them, it’s always very personal. My works are various, and some differ from others greatly, so I suppose the only link between all the works hanging up for my Paradox retrospective… is myself,” Ebejer concludes.

Paradox, hosted by the Wignacourt Museum, Rabat is open until September 29. Consult the event’s Facebook page for opening hours.