JOSEPH BARBARA is well known for his sculptures and installations in which he recycles plastic mineral water bottles. He talks to Joseph Agius about his current exhibition, Versatility, that shows other aspects of his oeuvre.
JA: Your name evokes images of recycled mineral water bottles into works of art. From where did this propensity to recycle originate?
JB: I started creating installations from recycled materials in the 1970s when I was teaching sheet metal fabrication and welding at a trade school. I used to collect scraps of metal, burrs and anything else that I found interesting at the time and turn them into works of art.
In the 1980s, I realised that, in Malta, over a million plastic water bottles were used and ended up thrown away either in the streets, fields, the sea or the landfill. So I started creating installations from these plastic water bottles. The latest large installation using these bottles was Christ Face, having the dimensions of four metres by four-and-a-half metres, which was commissioned and erected in Gozo next to Ta’ Pinu church.
Over 4,000 litter-picked plastic water bottles were used and it took me six months to complete it. It is now in Għajnsielem, ready to be unveiled again during Lent of next year.
Futuristic TreeApart from plastic bottles, I use anything that is discarded and which gives me purpose to create a new work. Lately, I used bicycle cardboard boxes for a four-metre-high monument celebrating equality for women, which will be exhibited in Versatility.
Other materials I use are empty wooden cable reels, broken mannequins, plastic bags, fan guards and anything else that I find interesting.
JA: What are the intrinsic properties of these bottles that lend themselves to the creation of your work?
JB: In the 1980s, when I started using them, plastic bottles were non-recyclable and thicker in structure, which made them stronger and more workable when heated by an air blower. So I could mould them into any shape I needed, particularly when I used them to construct human figures. Plastic bottles these days shrivel up when exposed to heat. Thus, it is hard to control the shape I’m after. Even so, I am still able to transform these bottles into works of art.
We now have the possibility to recycle these bottles in machines for money tokens, which is something positive as this reduces the probability of them being discarded.
JA: I feel that you want to deliver an environmental message through these sculptures and that art and aesthetic objects can be produced from the most polluting of materials. Is this the case?
JB: Yes, in my installations there are always environmental messages to make people think, to reconsider before they throw something away, whatever it may be. One positive thing about my recycling of plastic bottles was that people in my neighbourhood realised that I was creating art with them so a number of my neighbours started collecting bottles in large bags and leaving them behind my door. This meant that I always had an abundance of material to work with.
I use anything that is discarded
JA: Most of your paintings for this exhibition have a strong westernised pop-art imagery, mostly of ballroom dancers, coupled with an orphic-cubist backdrop. They also have strong graphic characteristics, maybe suggesting an autobiographical origin. Is there a message conveyed in these paintings or are you after pop-art graphical qualities?
JB: For Versatility, I selected paintings from different genres that highlight a series of themes from the past which affect me personally. For instance, my love for dancing comes through in my series of paintings thematically linked to Latin dancers. Unfortunately, I have not been practising much dancing lately due to the COVID-related restrictions and the scarce availability of venues.
The backdrop you mentioned is a style I adopted in the late 1960s, when I was an art student under Carmel Mangion. At the time, I was influenced and inspired by the works of modernist Maltese artists Harry Alden and Frank Portelli, apart from Surrealists like Giorgio di Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and others.
Beijing Opera CharactersJA: There are some paintings that have an oriental theme. Do you find the cultures of the east inspirational? What attracts you to them?
JB: My fascination with the orient, especially Japan and China, goes way back to when I was young. Their culture, friendliness and humbleness attract me immensely. I have travelled to both countries more than once. In fact, I have close contact with Japanese artists and, since 2013, I have been organising exchange exhibitions between Japan and Malta, inviting Maltese artists to participate in exhibitions in both countries. One such exhibition is due in May next year in Malta, followed by one in Japan.
JA: Which artists do you find most inspirational?
JB: In the early 1970s, I visited Sweden for a year and I experienced an artistic culture shock. At the time, in the Modern Museet, in Stockholm, the city where I lived, there were hardly any paintings in the traditional format. Most gallery halls were filled with installations and works of art that moved.
I visited Carl Mills Garden, full of incredible sculptures, mostly defying gravity. For two years following my stay in Sweden, I lived in the UK and was lucky to visit some fantastic exhibitions. One is awed by what one comes across in museums and galleries in London and Paris and many other places.
Latin Dancers 5JA: In Berlin Millennium, Architectural Chaos and Fantasy, you explore the technique of collage, integrating images from diverse sources into coherent compositions. Is there an underlying concept that led to the creation of these pieces? Is there a message you want to convey?
JB: The Berlin Millennium is a collage that I created from brochures and leaflets collected while I was in Berlin in 2000, as a reminder of that fantastic city.
The material for other collages comes from magazines that I collected along the years, sticking the material to recycled cardboard and, thus, trying to convey different messages to the public.
JA: The exhibits cover your creative output of the last 22 years, so this exhibition can be regarded as a retrospective. Any idea where the art of Joseph Barbara will be heading to in the coming years?
JB: Hopefully, I will persevere in creating art until body and mind allow me and until my hands are still able to hold a brush and tools to create new paintings and installations.
Versatility, hosted by Rabat’s Wignacourt Museum and curated by Xaxa Calleja, runs until December 28. Consult the museum’s Facebook page for more information.