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25/11/2012

Away from the mostly digital work I do there is nothing I enjoy more than picking up pen and paper and working on something I will do purely for myself, something that is driven by the simple need to draw - drawing as a relaxing and (yes) therapeutic activity.

A few weeks back I started mulling over the theme of the mother and child - a theme repeated oh so often in religious as well as secular art. So I played around with a couple of sketches until I had a working drawing I could use to take off with. When it came to putting in a background it just had to be a Maltese themed landscape - and it was then I hit upon the Gozo Citadel (ic-Cittadella in Maltese) as possibly the ideal backdrop.

I have always loved the view of this ancient redoubt sitting atop its rounded hilltop as you are coming down the road from Zebbug so I chose that particular angle . The rest of the landscape I left as simplified as possible.

By my normally very slow working rate this one was completed pretty fast... I started the pencil sketch on 3rd November and a day later started working with ink. I completed this on the 25th November - less than a month. Good job I never got the Sistine Chapel commission.

I used Faber Castell TGI-S technical pens with nibs ranging from 0.13 to 0.35 and Pelikan permanent inks in various colors: black (naturally), vermillion, cobalt blue, yellow, green, sepia and burnt sienna. I rounded off with a light dusting of Faber Castell Polychromos colored pencils.

I took shots of the drawing as it developed and here they are...
The Citadel Madonna - a blow-by-blow account!

Working drawing. Baby Jesus needs to be altered...

...and off we go. Work in progress.

Introducing cobalt, vermilion and burnt sienna inks...

Sketching in a background with a couple of pics for reference

Giving the background wall, fields and citadel some color: using green, cobalt, yellow, burnt sienna and sepia

Almost done with the ink...now a few touches with colored pencils...

...and I reckon "The Citadel Madonna" is ready!

Madonna face detail

Citadel detail

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Decay

17/11/2012

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The first time I became aware of John Paul Azzopardi’s art was when I spotted his work (Dawkin's Fundamentalism) Trickster displayed in a shop window in Merchants Street Valletta. It was dark and the warrior image stood out bathed in white light – an incredibly striking image. My first instinct was to smash the glass and run away with this intriguingly beautiful statuette. But I didn’t of course. Instead I looked the artist up and promised myself to turn up for his next exhibition.

John Paul is currently exhibiting seven pieces at the Splendid in Strait Street Valletta. The Splendid is apparently an abandoned guest house in some state of dilapidation but it’s an ideal backdrop for the (disappointingly) small number of works on show.

The works themselves are mostly top notch. My favourite is there – still apparently and unbelievably unsold. My other favourite piece is Bored Calculator, a figure sitting astride a sheep. It is constructed of so much diverse stuff; and the figure’s head is a jumble of colored wires through which the artist marvelously extracts a hauntingly vacant look. This is indeed awesome stuff.

Then there is Roman Pig (Back to Front). I can’t really make out the anatomy correctly but the piece succeeds in portraying greed, decadence and excess so well that anything else is futile and basically irrelevant.

I am pleased to note that the nation has actually acquired a work by John Paul Azzopardi – though I would have preferred the acquisition to be one of the two works mentioned above; Trickster or Calculator.

There is no doubt this artist is a profound thinker – all serious students of philosophy tend to be in my experience. I prefer to let the philosophy go straight over my head and see these works in the way my eyes see them – a brilliant portrayal of decay (obviously), decadence, unrest, violence and social ennui. If I’m reading it wrong then my apologies to the artist.

Decay is on at The Splendid, 74 Strait Street Valletta from 16 November to 2nd December. Mondays to Sundays 12:30 to 20:00. Unmissable stuff.

J.P. Azzopardi's website is here http://jpazzopardi.com/gallery/main.php

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The Addolorata Cemetery

11/11/2012

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This short article first appeared in the November edition of Air Malta's inflight magazine Skytime
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In common with Christian cultures all over the world, most Maltese mark the month of November with a visit to the graves of their departed loved ones. There are several village cemeteries scattered all over the Island, mostly humble, quiet and somber places usually adorned by a small central chapel.

Malta also has a large national cemetery which merits an off the beaten track visit for its architectural and aesthetic values. The Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery, on the outskirts of Paola, was designed by local architect Emanuele Luigi Galizia and opened in 1869, initially as a burial ground for the towns and villages of the vicinity. Galizia was a gifted architect who not only introduced the Gothic revival in Malta - best exemplified here - but also experimented with a number of styles, most notably in the construction of the Turkish cemetery in Marsa as well as a number of Moorish themed houses in Sliema.

At the Addolorata, Galizia made exceptionally good use of the site’s topography, placing the cemetery’s main chapel at the top of a hill from which a number of tree-lined lanes meander down to the cemetery’s main entrance which is adorned by a gatehouse and a beautiful curved portico.

The Addolorata easily compares with the finest of Europe’s monumental cemeteries, having a good number of richly carved private mausoleums in its older parts and a good representation of funerary sculptures.

Most noteworthy of the latter is a poignant bronze put up by a travelling businessman who, upon his unexpected return to the Island, so surprised his ageing mother that the excitement apparently helped to quicken her demise. Like most other places in Malta, the Second World War left its mark on the cemetery and this fine sculpture still bears the unmistakable scars of bomb shrapnel in its lower part. Another notable monument is the one dedicated to the memory of the Sette Giugno victims. On 7th June 1919 a number of Maltese were killed while rioting against the colonial forces. The unfortunate deaths are widely perveived as the catalyst that eventually led to Malta being granted its first Constitution by the British in 1921.

A visit to the Addolorata may not be everyone’s favourite excursion but this extensive burial ground certainly represents another aspect of Malta’s rich cultural and historical heritage.

The Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery is open every day of the year from 7am to 4.30pm.

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Decay

The Addolorata Cemetery

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