Rooftops (2021)
Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
2020 will surely be remembered for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has brought with it tangible effects on people both physically and emotionally. On top of this, the resulting economic decline negatively affected many people’s mental health resulting in anxiety and depressive disorders.
Rooftops sheds light on this existential context from a local perspective. It addresses the concept of isolation and individual confinement within designated spaces and especially focuses on the additional stressors caused by the current exponential construction intervention on the local environment and the diminishment of public natural spaces that are proven to curb such mental disorders.
Through the combination of mixed media on canvas and sculpture, this work abstracts local urban features that have inundated the environment and are simplified, resulting in minimalist forms that contrast the nature of their derivative; thus creating order from chaos. The straight lines pertaining to the concrete structures are implemented within the creative compositions as are the pale hues of the same buildings. Texture plays an important role in the paintings as it mirrors the roughness of plastered walls as is the choice of materials. This is also apparent in the sculptures in which reclaimed construction material is integrated.
Rooftops sheds light on this existential context from a local perspective. It addresses the concept of isolation and individual confinement within designated spaces and especially focuses on the additional stressors caused by the current exponential construction intervention on the local environment and the diminishment of public natural spaces that are proven to curb such mental disorders.
Through the combination of mixed media on canvas and sculpture, this work abstracts local urban features that have inundated the environment and are simplified, resulting in minimalist forms that contrast the nature of their derivative; thus creating order from chaos. The straight lines pertaining to the concrete structures are implemented within the creative compositions as are the pale hues of the same buildings. Texture plays an important role in the paintings as it mirrors the roughness of plastered walls as is the choice of materials. This is also apparent in the sculptures in which reclaimed construction material is integrated.
