After not having reviewed an exhibition for a few months at a stretch, I welcomed the chance to do so, when I was invited to view the works of neo-artist Glenn Ellul. Set up in the foyer of a leading hotel, the works sit on their assigned walls with a quiet anticipation that lures you in provocatively, and effectively enraptures you as you zoom in.

Let me try to anticipate what you are in for, before you visit. If you are familiar with the works of Pugin or Piranesi, you surely appreciate the intricately pencilled lines of structures of their time, many of which we may still admire today. Both these geniuses also designed constructions that came to fruition, and some that did not, very often simply because they were too fantastic to step off the drawing board. Now, rethink the fantastic 3D architecture we get to fascinate ourselves with in any one of the Marvel movies. If you get the gist of this, and if it intrigues you, you should most certainly visit Ellul's Structures of the Mind.

Surprisingly, his first source of inspiration was totally detached from any of the above. As a boy he became enthralled by a very Maltese, very traditional architectural unit - the church, as he explains, "For as long as I can remember, I was always in awe of my local parish church in Żebbug and of its intense interior and exterior convolutions in the Baroque tradition. That is how I became amazed by the potential of architectural drawings, so much so, that early on, I began drawing fantastic buildings, spaceships, and the like. But the most inspiring facet was, and remained, the dome and its construction".

One may well imagine Ellul as a boy, trying to pay attention to the proceedings of a sermon, while being constantly, but constantly, distracted by the designs of Tommaso Dingli or the murals of Francesco Zahra. Too much detail to take in at one sitting to be sure, but then, Sunday mass fortunately came around every week.

While Ellul did not embark on architectural studies but trained to become a graphic designer, he continued to experiment with pen, ink and paper, creating painstakingly detailed visionary architecture, imbued with a touch of fictional universe art. This collection was born, directly inspired by a Maltese context injected with futuristic potential that may only remain embalmed in dreams.

Curator Roderick Camilleri recalls something of his reaction upon seeing Ellul's works for the first time. "I knew Glenn's work before he actually approached me to curate this show. However, when I saw this series of drawings, I was intrigued by the delicate and crisp draughtsmanship, as well as his almost arithmetic deployment of form and structure. The particularly graphic qualities and the intriguing formal elements of these drawings were the first motivators that guided my decision to curate the show. Most of all, it was his unique genuine enthusiasm which led me to help him present this body of work to the public; knowing that this might be his first considerable stepping stone towards developing his artistic career."

The works demand time for observation. Each structure is highly individual, intense, deceivingly placid, but in actuality, throbbing with guarded energy, creatively and painstakingly flushed into its existence. This is imaginary architecture at its best. Ellul describes it as architecture on paper, but there is more to the architecture than the construction lines.

Some of the works are fully futuristic, others echo brutalist, gothic or baroque tendencies, all are fully symmetrical in all their cross-hatched exactness. Only one work is unstructured and unsymmetrical yet carefully balanced so that nobody need feel unsafe aboard. Then there is the minutiae. The domes are innumerable, but so are the balconies, the facades, all the quirks and fascinators of Maltese heritage, diplomatically presented in all shapes and convolutions, along with the portals, windows, niches and figures. As I hone in to examine his framed work dedicated to Valletta, I can appreciate how he has thoroughly enjoyed playing with his drawing, mixing and merging all the boldest characteristics of our city, into one magnificent whole. Every drawing is self-sufficient, suspended as if in mid-air, ready to take off languidly into space.

As the artist himself admits: "The 17 works in this collection are my very first public showpieces. I believe I have captured the essence of local architecture and yes, more besides. Each work is a long labour of love and can take one entire month to complete." As Ellul quietly and modestly shows me his work, he seems to be in awe of the works himself, admitting that he becomes totally absorbed for hours on end as he composes the drawings.

Camilleri agrees that, "Glenn's work is of a particular genre and finds its place in the contemporary art context, for it can also be read as another way of how an artist relates and reacts to the contemporary context and living conditions of his period. His work can be seen as an attempt to underscore the value and importance of aesthetics within our local built environment, by presenting the beauty of past architectural idiosyncrasies during a period where architectural structures are stripped from their original aesthetic design to accommodate financial and economical ends".

 

'Structures of the Mind' - an exhibition of pen and ink art by Glenn Ellul and curated by Roderick Camilleri is currently on display at The Palm Court Lounge, The Phoenicia Malta, The Mall, Floriana. Opening hours are from 8am to 10pm daily, until 29 November