New directions are the spice of life – existence during these particular times can get to be too monochromatic and compartmentalised. Two artists have started sharing a studio smack in the middle of Mqabba, a rural village that is far removed from the cultural hubs to which we’ve grown accustomed.
The studio, in front of the parish church, provides two like-minded souls with the required detachment from the mundane to rediscover themselves, discuss concepts, and symbiotically create art. It is not very usual that Maltese artists share studios, although the practice is quite common away from these shores.
Etienne Farrell and Mark Mallia have recently embarked on a collaboration away from the sterile environment of art galleries; concepts and time frames thus do not need to be subservient to the agenda and ethos of a gallery space.
The emblematic title of their first exhibition, RAW, implies a non-polished, down-to-earth approach that highlights the brutal honesty of the artists. They come up with unorthodox art that chronicles the nightmares, the eddies of the dark subconscious.
This has been a salient, central ingredient of the oeuvre of Mallia over the years. Past unsavoury episodes have conditioned Mallia towards a path that thematically evolved into a number of solo exhibitions that were cathartic as psychological scar tissue.
Farrell, a graduate in History of Art, has already shown her artistic prowess in an installation, her contribution to the 2019 exhibition ONE|SIX at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, a celebratory end-of-course exhibition by the graduates of the Masters of Fine Arts in Digital Arts course. She has also exhibited in other collective exhibitions; one of her pieces, Jien, is now in the national collection.
RAW is an invitation to visit the Mqabba studio on just one day, February 10, to evaluate art that makes one ponder. The concept is encapsulated in the RAW mission statement:
“No specific theme binds the works – they are single pieces that were born during intervals/breaks from/in between various joint projects that we’re working on. They stem from a one-night-stand kind of approach: a spark/an idea/a concept... execution... then we move on to something else”.
This synergy, this overlapping of opinions and concepts, has transcended the misgivings that artists tend to have about each other’s work. A dark place could be a common liminal source of inspiration.
This synergy, this overlapping of opinions and concepts, has transcended the misgivings that artists tend to have about each other’s work
Although not for the faint-hearted, RAW investigates, among other themes, religion and inhibition, tradition and anti-conformism, sexuality and gender, phobia and mania, the rational and the illogical.
This polarisation of meanings and objects, and the juxtaposition of elements, can be seen as an association of dualities in the spirit of the Dada and surrealist artist Max Ernst. Farrell and Mallia exploit these collages to create new objects that defy categorisation through a disorientation that provokes contrasting emotions.
Kurċa – Etienne FarrellFarrell’s Kurċa is semiotically related to the cross, the identifying icon of Christianity. However, this symbol of reverence is transformed by the artist into an alter ego as the crucified corpse has deteriorated into its skeletal empirical form, which might as well be an artefact from a chapel of bones. Redemption seems to have meandered and lost its way.
The iconic symbol of a leading world religion, while still evoking contemplation through its semiotic power garnered through the last 2,000 years, has been reinterpreted by Farrell as a symbol of death through affliction, war and famine. Nothing has really changed in two millennia.
Mallia’s Cinderella is a gothic Poeesque take on the popular folk tale written by Charles Perrault centuries ago. A Duchampian found object, a high-heeled blackened boot, has been transformed by Mallia to serve a fetishist narrative, replacing the transparent glass shoe lost by the princess-to-be, smitten by the love of a handsome prince.
The male/female duality is brought together in a gender-bending hermaphroditic statement by Mallia that seals the female (the shoe) and the male (the phallic rod) through the agency of a golden ring. This wedding of genders and the perched crow-head elicit comparisons with Ernst through the creation of a new gothic tale that thrives on disbelief, greed, contrivance, dread and confusion. The crow, a staple in Mallia’s oeuvre, portrays the ultimate scavenger that greedily feeds and discards the undigestible morsels.
RAW explores the Freudian oneiric and reaches deep into two artists’ subconscious to wrest out new narrative possibilities by juxtaposing and reassembling disparate elements. On Wednesday, February 10 – a public feast – visitors are invited to investigate these 21st century Maltese ‘tales of mystery and imagination’.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, admission is free but by appointment only. Visitors are invited to call on 9930 3207 to fix an appointment. The studio will be open between 10am and 10pm.