Nucleus is a collective exhibition grouping together the watercolour paintings of six well-known and seasoned artists who have also been friends for a substantial part of their painting careers. Besides providing them with an opportunity to showcase their most recent works, this exhibition will act in a positive way as a 'nucleus' for renewed interest in the medium of watercolour. The watercolourists' intentions are rooted in their aspirations for the future of the medium and they hope to inspire a younger generation of watercolour artists to take up the baton, as well as the challenge, to set up a watercolour society in Malta.
Watercolour is a widespread painting medium which has been around since the nineteenth century, and its popularity relies on the fact that it remains a quick means to produce relatively inexpensive and lively works. In spite of, or perhaps due to its success, its popularity has also contributed to some serious negative press. The image of neatly dressed ladies sitting at easels in the countryside producing timid landscapes or flower studies in pastel colours is probably to blame for the misconception that watercolour painting is just a pleasant pastime for the faint at heart.
Whist acknowledging that watercolour has been used to record and classify natural specimens in the past, Anna Grima's studies of local indigenous and threatened flora have been made in the spirit of enquiry and ecology as she has embraced the dual role of artist and naturalist.
Another presumption frequently made about watercolour is that it is the medium best suited to represent ephemeral landscapes dotted with picturesque old buildings and the sea because these subjects offer endless possibilities to evoke light effects.
Kenneth Zammit Tabona (above) and Tonio Mallia (below) both create dramatic and unexpected landscapes for this exhibition which are on opposite ends of the colour spectrum. Mallia’s nocturnal, blue-tinted style appear ominous and somewhat at odds with Zammit Tabona’s colourful invitations to explore stormy headlands. The human presence is missing from both artist’s works.
Debbie Caruana Dingli's watercolours (above) are a sensitive synthesis of people in harmony with nature. The artist utilises fluid atmospheric strokes and expressive brushwork to ensure that her female figures are well integrated into the landscape.
Jeni Caruana (above) chooses to focus on one sitter at a time. Her portraits confront the viewer with their meaningful looks and her loose brushwork gives a sense of vibrancy and intensity to her mini-but not-miniature portraits.
Anna Galea (above) honours nature in her unique and highly controlled style. She is inspired by the appearance of natural forms and tree trunks, rubble walls, fallen leaves and other patterns created by nature have been placed under the focus of her lens and enlarged to reveal hidden interest in the seemingly commonplace.
Through their works, the six artists demonstrate that there are several methods one could employ to produce a successful watercolour. They have expanded the repertoire by mixing watercolour with opaque whites and even mixing several media, like ink, soluble graphite and conte with watercolour. Anna Galea has experimented with the relatively novel technique of lining a traditional oil support with watercolour paper as her base layer. It is also useful to keep in mind that since acrylic and gouache are also water based, they too fall within the family of watercolour paints. The participating artists also wish to dispel the assumption that in order to produce a fairly successful watercolour, successive washes of transparent pigment have to be laid down correctly in order to honour the aqueous nature of the medium itself.
Nucleus is therefore an invitation to delve deeper and ask questions about the process involved in painting in watercolour, about the techniques used to achieve the final work and to examine the different ways each artist has adopted this medium to full effect. The paintings on display derive their inspiration from nature and the human form. They showcase moody or stormy landscapes, untamed scenery and how people either fit into the equation, or not at all. All the works wander around the watercolour landscape but have been dipped into the artist's individual palette of colour in order to bring them to life.
Like everything else which enjoys an honoured past, the six watercolourists exhibiting in Nucleus have put on a display which raises a toast to the past but at the same time, acknowledges the broad range of ends to which this medium is being used today. They have discarded the idea that watercolour possesses intrinsic qualities that have to be adhered to. They wish to explore new possibilities for themselves in order to articulate their own personal and unique language.
'Nucleus' opens to the public at Palazzo de la Sale on 11th January and remains open until 1st February