A spectacular collection of original ĠOXWA
paintings has arrived in Boston!
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Beach Front Oil on canvas, 51" x 38"
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The Diver Oil on canvas, 51" x 38"
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Moon over Dwejra Bay Oil on canvas, 45½" x 35"
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Storm over the lagoon Oil on canvas, 38" x 63¾"
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Fruits for the Gods Oil on canvas, 36" x 23½"
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Closed Flowers Oil on canvas, 31½" x 15¾"
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Privacy Oil on canvas, 47" x 23½" |
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Homage to Giacometti Oil on canvas, 45½" x 35"
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Broken Heart Oil on canvas, 31½" x 31½" |
| Artist Statement:
I was born in Valletta and grew up surrounded by the old walls of the city's many historical buildings. I believe the development of my technique has been the result of my efforts to illuminate the drama of those walls which were fading away into a very distant past but somehow surviving in a bustling, modern city.
While visiting a convent at the age of five, the mysterious but exciting smell of oil paints led me to a nun creating an image of the Virgin Mary. It at this moment that I decided to become a painter; although I am not sure I even knew what the word meant. Since then, I have attended art schools in three different countries. I have studied and learned from the masters of the past, but I do not consider myself to be part of any particular school.
In my recent works, I am searching for a way to bridge the past with the sharply defined present in one composition. One approach I have taken is to present a single object that has demanded my attention. Sometimes it is a young woman's face expressing pride, wonder or despair. At times I choose an object such as a tree, a vase, or a bunch of flowers. I paint these subjects with photographic precision and surround them with indefinite, unplanned backgrounds where traces of color, traces of life and sometimes vaguely defined arches suggest a centuries old world. As a result of this contrast, the precisely rendered figures or objects appear to rise or float out of the hazy background, much in the same way everything we do floats out of an indefinite past.
Another approach to creating a painting that bridges the past with the present is with landscape and cityscape. Growing up in Malta, one is always conscious of being surrounded by the sea. I have been fascinated by the places like Venice or Malta, where land meets sea and sea meets sky. Venice is "a city built on water," and I like to show buildings rising from and reflected in the water. I paint structures eroded by time but still sturdy, standing upright and casting reflections. These buildings once had important roles to play in war and commerce, and while they now serve as tourist attractions, they are still able to pass down history to us. Sometimes I begin my landscape with a precise drawing of a familiar scene, but more often I start a painting with nonrepresentational patterns of colors and somehow a familiar scene rises out from the abstract.
I would like to think that I am being faithful to the fresco painters of the past who were considered "modern" in their day by uniting technique and feeling and careful observation of the world around them: a fading but still living tradition of art that goes back the painters of cave walls thousands of years ago.
Ġoxwa
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