Transitions, which opened yesterday in Gozo’s Il-Haġar Museum, is a retrospective exhibition of the work of artist Norbert Francis Attard, founder of Valletta Contemporary, and a man who has been a significant influence on the contemporary art scene in Malta for many years.
Immaculately curated by Nikki Petroni, the collection is presented in a number of sections, each described as a ‘transition’ relating to a time of change in Attard’s life, new studio spaces and periods of creativity that fell between the specific projects to which he turned his focus.
The work is spread over five spaces over three floors, and it is the first and last periods of Attard’s art, in 1970 and a period in the late 1990s, that introduce the show, ‘book-ending’ the three-decades of art on the walls.
Visitors are presented first with a single piece from each transition in the museum’s entranceway, the very first of which is a wonderful super-stylised nude with simple lines that teams a shock factor with an almost cartoon simplicity. The exhibition proper then begins with two huge works, the first of which shows a series of small carved figurines of Maltese stone in a big wooden frame that’s rich with symbolism. In this work Everybody An Artist does Attard suggest humans have been artists since the prehistoric era in which Malta’s temples were built? And why do some hang gently from a wire noose. Does Attard feel that some of us suffer, suffer because of culture, religion or social ‘progress’ or is this a representation of the death of old values? However, Attard has previously suggested that the artists’ role is simply to question or express what they see and feel in the world around them, without needing to explain their creations.
Alongside, and perhaps a surprising contrast, hangs a multi-panelled abstract of the glowing night sky, a perfect representation of the peace found in a quiet corner of Għarb, where Attard has his studio, on the edge of the Dwejra’s dark sky heritage area.
The next work in this first part of the show is a compilation of 88 red and blue shotgun cartridges arranged in perfect lines, like a colourful boardgame. Their perfect arrangement at odds with the havoc they could wreak; and there’s an interesting correlation here with the current excellent exhibition in Attard’s gallery Valletta Contemporary by birdman Hans Langner. Attard’s Għarb studio has long served as a hub for international artists, and seven years ago he opened Valletta Contemporary, a centre for contemporary art that hosts collective and solo exhibitions of local and international artists a significant contribution to the development and appreciation of contemporary art in Malta, as part of the continued development of his artistic practice that this exhibition showcases so well.
While the rest of the show is almost entirely either monochromatic or in the neutral hues of dritwood and wire, rust, tarmac, concrete and stone, in an intimate art space between the upper and lower floors, there’s a glorious oasis of Gozo’s emerald green landscape. Because this room is a little separate and (very slightly) hidden, visitors will feel both the welcome of the natural world stepping inside and the joy of a botanical party. Stylised flowers in brilliant rainbow colours proliferate with the female thorax and thighs continuing to make a regular appearance albeit as a small motif. Between, the luscious lines of the landscape which morph into the flowing locks of a green goddess or the sinous curves of a mythological serpent, representing the shamanic significance the snake in the writings of American anthropologist and writer Carlos Castaneda.
On textured paper that has an almost oriental shimmer, festa reds and golds and sea blues contrast lift the grass greens, a palette that draws on the colours of old Malta and Gozo, its traditions doors and dgħajjes.
The final room of the show is different again with magical masks and a lovers’ corner, beautiful linocuts in pure black and white, and monochromatic geometric horses and dancers inspired by 20th century Maltese artists and Picasso’s Guernica.
Look out too for the Harmony collection in which several of Attard’s nudes evoke amphora, a reminder of the neolithic that continues to influence him, whilst Metamorphis 1 is a particularly lovely insight into the reduction of a simple figure to wholly abstracted in a single work.
Overall, this is a smashing smorgasbord of an artist’s creative output over thirty years. To be able to explore Attard’s progression throughout his career and relate it to the changes in his life and the world he sees around him in this way is a privilege and an education. It’s also an adventure that I recommend you share.
Transitions runs until June 29. If you aren’t able to make it to Il-Haġar in person, then you can buy the accompanying book Transitions (IL-ĦAĠAR GEMS SERIES no. 33; €20) which includes additional images and a very helpful chronological overview from curator Nikki Petroni.