Cartoons and Illustrations by Steve Bonello
  • Home
  • Drawings & Graphics
  • Editorial
  • Cartoon Strips
  • Illustrations
  • Unpublished
  • Scrapbook
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Artist’s Studio – Andrew Diacono

2/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Andrew Diacono has established himself as one of Malta’s best known and most sought after sculptors. I meet Andrew in his cluttered studio and true to his reserved nature he is reluctant to be photographed – a request I grudgingly comply with. His reasoning is simple – it’s the artist’s work that should be of any substance and not the artist’s own image. Hmmm… can’t really argue there.
Picture
Andrew was born in 1958 and cites his father Victor, a well-respected sculptor in his own right, as his earliest influence. His other great influence is the French satirist Honoré Daumier. Very much like Daumier, Andrew is a master at distorting his figures but the similitude with the French master seems to stop there. 

Andrew’s line up of bits and pieces of humanity is a markedly more tragic one reflecting man’s estranged, alienated, and often absurd existence; a panoply of mostly lone figures going about their business in an automated, dispassionate and disenchanted way. And then there’s the absurd anatomy – impossibly huge men balanced on matchstick legs, the awkward looking reader who holds a dainty book in his large clumsy hands, the suited businessman riding an unlikely bicycle to nowhere.

Picture
Although Andrew has always painted his sculptures, his move into proper painting on canvas is a more recent one. Interestingly the paintings show an overall lighter mood, “my softer, more feminine side” Andrew jokes. The mood in these canvases does in fact border on the joyful and frivolous and feminine figures are more prominent too with a number of mother and child variations, a theme which appears to be a recurring one with the artist.

Andrew has participated in numerous exhibitions both in Malta and elsewhere but he cites two major shows at the National Museum and The Casino Maltese, both with fellow artist Debbie Caruana Dingli, as his most successful both in terms of the works shown and the manner the works were received. 


Andrew spends most of his time in his studio in Saint Publius Street in a quiet area of Naxxar and, though not averse to selective socializing (he makes superb coffee too), values his ‘alone time’ – mandatory for any artist’s creative process. “Truth be told I do not go out much, with me my home and studio are very much my castle” says Andrew. Not quite incorrect either – the large bay window in his living room does command a good 360 degree view of the neighbourhood and does feel like a castle’s lookout post. After more coffee and three hours of viewing and conversing about his work I decide it’s time to allow Andrew some of his precious alone time and look forward to see some more dregs of humanity on my next visit.

A sample of Andrew’s work can be viewed at So Galerie in Iklin and a sizeable bronze by the artist entitled ‘The Three Graces’ adorns the quayside at the Mgarr Ferry Terminal in Gozo. Andrew’s Facebook page is here. 

Picture
The above article first appeared here. 
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Addolorata
    Anthony Burgess
    Art
    Billboards
    Bio
    Bla Kondixin
    Boats
    Books
    Cartoonist Forum
    Cartoons
    Cats
    Cinque Terre
    Color
    Death
    Doodling
    Drawing
    European Union
    Exhibitions
    Failure
    Fireworks
    Flora
    Football
    Gaddafi
    Genoa
    George Fenech
    Gozo
    Hamrun
    Hiking
    Humour
    Il Bizzilla
    Illustrations
    Ink
    Interview
    Jobs
    Joy Division
    Krakow
    Ladies Of The Night
    Landscape
    Liguria
    Lija
    Majjistral
    Malta
    Marsaxlokk
    Merchandise
    Mordillo
    Motivation
    Mqabba
    Mugs
    Naples
    Nature
    Newspaper Cuttings
    Oslo
    Pens
    Photography
    Photoshop
    Pictograms
    Poland
    Promotion
    Ralph Steadman
    Riviera Del Levante
    Saint Francis
    Scrapbook
    Signs
    Skytime
    Staglieno
    Terror
    Travel
    Walks
    Wolverhampton Wanderers
    Work In Progress
    Youth

    Author

    Steve Bonello
    Malta

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

Created by Steve Bonello