An art exhibition of works by acclaimed artist Alfred Chircop, organised by Middlesea Valletta Life (MSV), was recently opened by the Minister for Tourism and Culture Dr Francis Zammit Dimech at Middle Sea House, Floriana.
In his address the Minister praised Alfred Chircop for his mastery and for his works and thanked him for exhibiting these works which were never exhibited before. He added that the works of Alfred Chircop are nowadays found in homes and offices around the world and that these represented works of art of the highest possible calibre.
Addressing a very well attended reception in the Middlesea Group Conference Room, Middlesea’s Executive Chairman, Mario C. Grech said: “One of Malta’s leading artists, Alfred Chircop is synonymous with abstract art. Alfred Chircop is highly acknowledged internationally and was honoured with various important awards. In 1988 he was awarded the prestigious National Order of Merit in recognition of his invaluable contribution to Art in Malta.”
The exhibition is open to the public. It is being held at the Middlesea Group Conference Room, Middle Sea House, Floriana, until April 13, 2007, on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Entrance is free.
Prof. Peter Serracino Inglott wrote thus of this exhibition: “Watercolours are a medium which is associated in most minds with artistic games in minor keys, but in the hands of Alfred Chircop they are used in a manner by which the complexity of the world-vision expressed in his major works utilizing other media is actually enhanced. The factors that are normally limitations are turned by the sheer virtuosity of his handling of the medium into means of enrichment of meaning. The fluidity of the aqueous element subjected to an almost incredible control intensifies the excitement of the perception of the subtly interlocking spaces within the image. The very association of the medium with such fairy lightweight if not faint-hearted depictions of landscapes as are usually produced by Sunday afternoon artists are transvalued: they are subversively enlisted to contribute an additional dimension of gentle irony to the original and essential Chircopian alchemy.
By making watercolours the vehicle of the deeply meditated translation-into-chromatic-patterns of the labyrinthine processes and impasses of communication that are simultaneously his chronic sources of acute concern and deeper joy, he has elevated a snobbishly despised genre of art (in a universal perspective) to a new and unprecendented level of self-reflexive significance.”