Roots of an Island (2007)

This image shows a selection of my semi-abstract paintings exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta throughout the month of November 2007. My dear friend and art critic Chev. Emmanuel Fiorentino passed away a few days before the official opening of the exhibition.

Art and Politics

Politics is about power relationships. Art is related to politics as well since it is capable of becoming political by its own or by the volition of culture, changing via the process from Art to History. All art as it becomes known becomes political as well regardless of the intent of the artist. When art becomes useful and relevant to culture and society in general, it becomes History. Elsewhere in my blog I have commented that maintaining a sophisticated stance above or outside of things is also taking sides, for such indifference and aloofness is automatically a support of the ruling class. A great number of artists quite consciously support the bourgeois system, since it is within that system that their work sells. Irrespective of the 'avant-garde' or 'conservative', 'rightist' or 'leftist' position art institutions might assume, they remain always a carrier of socio-political connotations. The policies of publicly financed institutions are obviously subject to the discretion of the governmental cultural division, whereas privately funded institutions showcase the predilections and interests of their patrons. In order to have an idea about the forces that elevate certain products to the level of 'works of art', it is indispensable to look into the economic, the selective and political underpinnings of the institutions, individuals and groups who participate in the control of cultural power. Artists as much as their supporters and their enemies, no matter of what ideological affiliation, are unwitting partners in the art-syndrome and relate to each other dialectically. Holding the strings from above we find the administrators, dealers, critics, curators, pundits, gallery staff, etc. These contributors, who were once considered the neutral servants of art, have now become its masters. They gradually consolidated their role in administering the artists' pure manifestations of freedom and in transforming them into commodities with a pricetag on the media-market. This is a mode of existence in which most artists accept to become subbordinates to the blind urge to production-consumption; their work becomes subject to scrutiny, assessment and administration by those who are close to the sources of control in the market hierarchy. The products change and selections occur continuously, but the process remains the same: the ruling market sets the standard of intelligibility. The ever-increasing promotion of an avant-gardist elite has successfully reduced unnecessary competition, if not eliminating it altogether. Undoubtedly, the 'permanent revolution' in art orchestrated by the market is actively designed never to fulfil any social ideals. Contrarily, the market system seems to predilect the celebration of the new individuality, arrogantly set against the idea of sociality. What used to be the production for a privileged middle-class, contemporary art has gradually transformed itself into a spectacularly elitist production, remote even from its own producers' actual lives and personal problems.

I recommend the reading of the following article by Jonathan Jones:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/dec/06/turner-prize-spurns-george-shaw

Painting and repainting

I have always had mixed feelings about the art of visual artists Iakovos "Jake" Chapman (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (born 1962), often known as the Chapman Brothers.
I also have a low consideration of those artists who purposely try to be vulgar and offensive in order to gain recognition. Though some works of art may be considered sublime because of the feelings of awe or anguish these are capable of transpiring, few are those artists who are able to strike the right balance and simultaneously retain the dignity and moral stance required along the feeling of repulsiveness which their work tries to convey. Being excessively different from the norm is not equivalent to being outstandingly original or creative. A case in point is the work by Jake and Dinos Chapman. For those familiar with their works, their subject matter tends to concentrate on whatever is generally deemed to be appalling and offensive.The brothers have also gained international recognition for their taste in altering works of other artists.
In May 2008 the White Cube gallery exhibited 13 apparently authenticated watercolours painted by Adolf Hitler, to which the brothers had added hippie motifs. Jake Chapman described most of the dictator's works as 'awful landscapes' which they had 'prettified'.
In 2010, the artists took an Old Master crucifixion scene and embellished it, apparently with the intention of asking the viewer to consider which works might be by Jake, by Dinos or the Flemish master. Their “Brueghel” also appears to have been, like most of the Chapmans’ works, a collaboration. By coincidence, a version of The Crucifixion accepted as by Pieter Brueghel the Younger sold at an auction in Zurich a few months earlier. This was catalogued as a joint work by Brueghel and Joos de Momper, the Flemish landscape artist who painted the backdrop.
And then there is the price. The Zurich auction picture sold for £673,000. The Chapmans’ “Brueghel” was priced, allowing for a 10 per cent reduction to a good client, at the same level as an authentic Brueghel of the same subject. Thus, a minor Old Master painting accrued in value just because it has been doctored by the Chapmans. The White Cube would like us to believe that the Chapmans are on the same pedestal as Brueghel.
Now let’s consider the moral issue behind this story. It often occurs that art practitioners revisit their past works and decide to intervene with some alterations (pentimenti). In some extreme cases, such alterations may be devastating, to such an extent that a whole body of work could disappear. The denial or erasure of one's past efforts could be explained as a portrayal of failure in creating something significant back in time. There could be other motives behind such drastic actions. It often occurs that unsuccessful art practitioners or beginners come to a point when they desperately need to repaint unsold works in order to make a living. For instance, Francis Bacon once confessed that due to financial problems he repainted most of the works that characterised the initial phase of his artistic career. In fact we do not have a significant documentation related to the period of his formation.
Intervening on one’s own work is one thing but messing with the works of others is logically and morally unacceptable, as long as there is consent from the original creators. Duchamp notoriously drew a pair of moustache on the image of the Mona Lisa . At least, and thanks God, the image was a reproduction.
But painting over an original work of an old Master, no matter whether it is a Brueghel or a minor artist, is deplorable. In my opinion, such an offensive action is a shameful attack on Art and the values of dignity and respect required for appreciating it.

A vicious cycle

Domino Effect (2011) - Mixed media on canvas, 120 x 150 cm (zoom in to see enlarged image).

Images and fragments of war reportage are extracted from newspapers and magazines and re-utilised in the creation of this collage/painting. Some texts and images are placed in evidence, whereas others are concealed or blurred purposefully with painting and overpainting in red. Historical facts...subjective truths...opinions constitute this horror vacui revolving around the central painted figures, inspired by the iconic group of statues - The Rape of the Sabine Women. Reports and pictures are presented tautologically - each of which is flattened with a homogeneous colour and thus given equal importance. During times of war, we often question whether the information presented by the media is reliable enough in portraying a true picture of war realities. As regards war documentation we tend to question images and chronicles from different perspectives. We also question whether actions, opinions and interpretations justify other actions in the name of warfare.

Automatic painting

The Citadel (2011)


The influence of expressionist and abstract expressionist art is evident in my personal interpretation of the various genres. I often begin my paintings with random and impulsive marks which I coax into recognisable forms so that figurative elements materialise as a kind of ‘found’ art. A tool in the loosening of gesture and, thus, of my link to nature, is the Surrealists’ 'automatic' painting technique. With fifteen years of dedicated practice, I have become firmly convinced that significant images proceed from an inner intensity. Gestures like pouring or splattering of paint enable me to convey notions of flux and impermanence inherent in physical phenomena. My compositions moved gradually from a commitment to the rational structures of nature towards the freer brushwork and spatial organisation through colour. I often depart from a sketchy representation of the surrounding environment; its visual data are just a pretext for me to start a painting. These simply ignite a whole process that leads to something which is relatively and intrinsically diverse from its original source. I consider my renderings of pure and unconditional expression as my best examples of painting.

Site-specific work

Containing blue (2011)

The ‘specific art object’ for the most part in the historical context undisputedly occupied a traditional gallery space or museum. The concern with materials or non-materials – particularly relatively formless materials – has the effect of inducing reflection upon the ‘containers’ which confer form upon them. Principal among these is the gallery space - the official arena in which normally all exhibits displayed are attributed with the status of an art object. But once the gallery itself became highlighted as constitutive of the work, rather than a neutral factor undeserving of attention, the possibility arose of making art which questions further the conventions of spectatorship. The possibility of installing or showing the work outside the gallery generated discussions upon the conditions of encounters with artworks. This was the origin of Land Art and site-specific sculpture.

In site-specificity, the work of art appears to merge physically into its setting and appears embedded in the place where observers encounter it. Site-specific artworks are impermanent, installed in particular locations for a limited duration. These become the emblem of transience and the ephemerality of all phenomena. Because of their impermanence, moreover, site-specific artworks are frequently ‘preserved’ only in photographs. This fact is important, for it suggests the allegorical potential of photography. The appreciation of the transience of things becomes itself a concern about the rescue of ephemeral constituents for eternity. As an allegorical art, then, photography is capable of representing our desire to fix the transitory in a stable and stabilising image.

Most of my site-specific installations are created and documented on seashores. These are ideal places which, when devoid of human activity, can reward the solitary visitors with a sublime visual experience that merges the earthly with the divine. The sea and the sky, with the horizon acting as their intermediate, appear to question the Earth’s substance. My actions are simple interventions with the use of simple objects. While acknowledging that the ‘absolute beauty’ is already manifested in the surroundings, the installations are meant to complement the ‘cosmic’ harmony that materialises in the unified oneness of the sky and the sea. Apart from the utilisation of natural objects found on site, common commercial artefacts are often included in my visual language – open containers, the purpose of which is to contain liquids or objects within their limited capacity. These recipients are placed facing the sea, which becomes a suggestive backdrop representing the infinite and the divine constituents of Nature. Due to their impermanence, the works are documented through photography. In most cases, the editing of photographic works is kept to the minimum in order to avoid extra embellishments. While showing an affinity with Land Art and Conceptual Art, the nature of my work remains predominantly symbolic… and allegorical, in the same way as its documentation.