Difference between revisions of "Talk:Past! Present. Future? (book)"

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Revision as of 12:35, 6 July 2020

The Collection: cluster essays

The works in the collection are being divided into clusters. As such these correspond with individual essays by Toni Sant about aspects of note in the collection. Here are some initial thoughts about each cluster; the order and contents may change as things move along. --Toni Sant (talk) 10:23, 24 March 2020 (EDT)

Click on the cluster number to see the contextual essay (work-in-progress!) for that cluster. --Toni Sant (talk) 08:09, 1 July 2020 (EDT)
Cluster 1

These are the most notable works in the collection from an art historical perspective. This does not mean that other works in the collection are not also notable. The works in this cluster are notable in their own right. They add greater value to the collection than what is added to them by being in the collection.

Cluster 2

2A: A number of works by artists who were either already established in Malta at the time that they exhibited at the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity or ones or subsequently became fairly notable in the local art scene. The works are not always very representative of the individual artists broader body of work and in some cases seem to have been donated merely to satisfy the obligatory requirement for donation to the national collection.

2B:The works in this sub-cluster are representative of the types of works that were being produced by the many painters on the local art scene at the turn of the 21st century. These works have entered the collection by virtue of fact that the work was exhibited at the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity under the obligatory donation requirement in place at the time. No further works by these artists have appeared in the Spazju Kreattiv programme.

Cluster 3

This cluster contains works by non-Maltese artists who exhibited at the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity. Some of the artists have closer connections with Malta than others, sometimes through family ties. The works entered the national collection through the requirement for obligatory donation in operation at the time of the original exhibition.

Cluster 4

A number of works by notable contemporary artists. Most frequently the donation of work to the collection is problematic simply by the nature of the work. The works listed here are to be considered carefully in the context of ways this collection is different from any other collection containing more conventional works of visual art. The works collected from the Remembering the Future research project should also be consider as part of this cluster, even if (possibly) handled separately.

Cluster 5

The legacy of Gabriel Caruana is captured here. This notable artist should/could really be part of Cluster 1 but there is a significant body of works in the collection that owe much to his legacy either directly or indirectly.

Cluster 6

VIVA has yielded a number of works by international artists into the collection, most notably works by three artists from China. This cluster provides an opportunity to reflect on the role and potential of VIVA in relation to the collection, as well as the development of works by artists from China who have continued to present their works to Malta, introducing the public and the local art scene to new aspects of art in contemporary China.

To Do List

  1. - revise any texts already written (Prato paper, Luxembourg exhibition, VIVA notes, collection exhibitions notes, etc.)
  2. - tabulate data available in the four major categories: (a) hero image, (b) artists' profile text,
  3. - tabulate data available for (c) contextual text, and (d) contextual images.
  4. - draft essays for each cluster as outlined above - DONE
  5. - rethink the proposed "art as archive" section
  6. - consider how to handle the images gap identified by Laura in the reality of the ongoing lockdown
# Task Deadline Owner Progress
1 pre-existing texts 8 July TS
2 data tabulation a+b 30 June SB
3 data tabulation c+d 8 July SB
4 cluster essay draft 30 June TS DONE
5 "art as archive" 8 July TS
6 image gaps 15 July SB
7 Consolidate FULL choice of images 15 July TS
8 Consolidate FULL texts (including intro etc.) 24 July TS
9 Tie up ALL loose ends 24 July SB + TS
10 Prepare all materials for publisher 31 July SB + TS

Cluster 5: DRAFT Essay Text

Gabriel Caruana and His Legacy

Within the Fondazzjoni Kreattività Art Collection, there’s a special place for ceramic works. More precisely, through a long standing working relationship with the artist Gabriel Caruana, the organisation has come to appreciate the legacy of his ceramic works. Interestingly, however, through Gabriel Caruana, we have also grown to appreciate non-ceramic works by artists working within the same ethos.

The only work in the Fondazzjoni Kreattività collection by Gabriel Caruana is the one you see here. This is evidently not ceramic.

The technique used in this piece is grog - ground bisque fired clay added to a clay body to make it rough and then fired again. Its application onto wood gives this work of art a unique quality to treasure in the collection.

So much so that it is exhibited permanently within St James Cavalier, the historic building where Fondazzjoni Kreattività is based.

The ceramic work of the British artist Zell Osbourne can also be found in this collection. This piece was created in 1993 and entered the collection in 2004, following an exhibition at the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity.

Caruana’s work with modern ceramics had prepared audiences in Malta for this type of aesthetic many years earlier. This is most evident not only in his own work but also in that of other artists who started out working with him at the Targa Gap School Studio.

This is where Sina Farrugia started her artistic career. The work you see here by Farrugia came to the Fondazzjoni Kreattività collection in 2002 from her exhibition Mirkeba. Other than the vibrant colours, this ceramic work is distinctive in its femininity. Farrugia is a pioneer in presenting such imagery on the art scene in Malta at the turn of the century.

When Gabriel Caruana retired in the 1990s, the Targa Gap School Studio was led by another one of his protegès. Tony Briffa was among the first to move beyond the ceramic techniques acquired from the master. This much is evident from this work. It was created by Briffa in Denmark and first exhibited during Re-Collection at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta in 2016.

When Briffa moved permanently from Malta to Denmark, another former student of Gabriel Caruana took over the Targa Gap School Studio. George Muscat has exhibited his ceramics at St James Cavalier multiple times. Here you see a pair of plates acquired for the collection in 2013 from his exhibition Forces.

These are not the only plates in the Fondazzjoni Kreattività Art Collection. Victor Agius has produced several plates over the years, along with his large-scale works. After a rather dark patch in his career in 2017, Spazju Kreattiv presented his exhibition Consume. These plates are a token from that exhibition, highlighting the plight of contemporary Maltese artists to get their work appreciated more broadly by the public in Malta. Another contemporary artist who has shared this struggle with Agius is Enrique Tabone, whose medium of choice is plexiglass.

Both artists are no strangers to Buongiorno Ceramica as their work has been presented by the Gabriel Caruana Foundation in recent years.