Was Joseph Barbara born an artist? Was any member of your family highly artistic?

My mother mentions that I was always expressing myself by sketching and doodling on pieces of paper even when I was still a very young boy playing around our Hamrun house. My older brother used to sketch religious crosses and I used to look up to him, but he never continued to improve his talent. My grandfather, who is also called Joseph Barbara, was a composer and conductor. He could play practically all the musical instruments. It was he who composed the Cospicua Anthem. Gnien ic-Crieki in Zejtun, where three of my installations are found, is dedicated to my grandfather. He died when he was 94 years old and I was just 20 years old; however after all these years, my weekly visits to his resting place still inspire me. Even in his old age, my grandfather remained very alert, constantly asking me questions about my then burgeoning art life.

In the “International Dictionary of Artists who painted Malta”, Nicholas De Piro describes you as “a bit of a rebel”. How true do you think this statement is? Moreover, do you feel that you have a cause for rebellion?

I feel that my love for Maltese landscape emerges in my work. I might paint a conventional scene but I think my personal style gives the painting its special touch. Each work of art is driven by my mood at the time. I don’t believe in drawing a straight line. I usually stray from convention. Very often, I paint Malta in my Prismatic Style – a style that I already employed in the 1980s when I participated in a joint exhibition with Frans Galea who exhibited a series of landscapes in palette style.

What relationship did you enjoy with Carmenu Mangion?

From 1967 to 1972 I studied at the National Art School under Carmenu Mangion. During these five years, Carmenu Mangion never tried to suffocate my personal style. He fully understood the importance of letting an artist develop on his own and consequently although he would express his opinion, he never pressed his ideas upon me; he let me be free.

Who are the artists who intrigue you?

It is very difficult to mention just a few, as I just notice how many I am leaving out. However I find the Surrealist artist Salvador Dalì particularly intriguing. I must also mention Giorgio de Chirico and Max Ernst. The Russian Wassily Kandinsky who was so inspired by music is also fascinating.

You have stopped teaching and now you devote all your time to art. Does it ever feel like just any other day at work, albeit in the studio?

I feel very fortunate that I can, to a certain extent, do whatever I wish. This does not mean I live in chaos and disorganisation. In fact I am a living contrast to my surreal works, as I am an extremely organised and structured individual. Unlike popular perception, artists are not bummers living off state benefits. Although teaching was one of my ambitions as a young man, I always wished to be a full-time artist.

What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated when it gets tough in the studio?

My main motivation is recalling my dreams; in fact I keep a detailed dream diary full of notes and doodles. One of my favourite examples of a painting inspired by a dream is Dream of Knowledge. A sweet anecdote accompanies that painting. Rolling out of bed, the dream was still so clear in my head. After I scribbled in my dream, I reached for my sketchbook and started drawing. The painting features my huge bookcase, books floating around, me sitting in the air and a beautiful and young lady, naked from the waist up, but with her lower part dressed in a red and black Spanish flamenco dress. A couple of days later I was dancing at Fuego, chatting to a young woman about this very painting and this young exotic woman in particular. At that moment, her friend came to join us and she looked very much like the one in my dream! She agreed to pose for my picture and for the following weeks, every Thursday she would come to my studio and pose in a red and black Spanish dress.

The Maltese heritage as can be attested by Heritage constantly inspires me. I am very proud to be Maltese and I love my country wholeheartedly. Walking along a valley and seeing an abandoned car pains me. I also think that in Malta, sex is still considered a taboo and for better or for worse, religion reigns supreme. The horse symbolises freedom.

Global warming and the general destruction of the Maltese countryside motivates me to continue with my protest paintings, like my piece The Dream – A Protest. In 1994, the topic of global warming was already affecting my work. This terrible phenomenon is melting the poles and the landmasses are sinking.

Consequently Earth is uninhabited and inhospitable. I feel that third world countries are hoping to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, while other nations dream about birds of peace and flying horses. Due to human greed, selfishness and arrogance, animals are dying and becoming extinct. The Maltese barbagann (owl) is soon going to disappear from our island as its breeding ground is going to be destroyed through this so-called development. In the meantime, the media cannot go any faster and cannot expose these appalling happenings. The media is trying to go faster than time, but the clock’s hands are turning into a snake that will bite and poison the media. Sometimes my dreams turn into a nightmare – I do not want this nightmare to turn into life. This nightmare has inspired other paintings like Bleak Future. In this painting, I depicted Malta’s bats, which unfortunately are also diminishing in number.

My work ethic is organised and quiet – I do not like to be accompanied by music and I do not even own a television set!

You seem to enjoy using different media. Do you just like variety or do you associate a certain medium with a particular subject or theme?

I consider myself a floater when it comes to the medium used. It all depends on the way I wake up in the morning. I often use acrylics and when it comes to installation I use whatever I find. I’ve used everything from the huge wooden reels around which electrical wire is wrapped to pieces of scrap metal. A while ago I was in Germany without my paints so I created collages from the magazines I found lying around. The need to express myself is very strong so the medium is not always that important. However recycling is the key throughout.

Some of your most famous works of art include your instantly recognised plastic bottle sculptures. Why did you choose this particular medium and on a lighter note, how many plastic bottles have you used over the years? Do all your family and friends specifically buy the same brand of water in order to pass onto you the empty bottles?

Well, starting from the lighter note – I honestly have no idea how many bottles I have used over the years but it definitely reaches into five figures. As for from where I used to get all the bottles, they just seem to fall into my lap. However, now, maybe to my detriment, but definitely to Mother Nature’s gain, today’s bottles are constructed in a way that makes them more recyclable and also less strong so I cannot bend the bottles into the ways I wish. I love to create art from what one would consider rubbish and I found that plastic bottles, which can be found everywhere, fit my purpose. I have also used the plastic bits thrown away by Playmobil to create pieces of very colourful art. I love nature and so on occasion I have incorporated the big, strong, desiccated leaves of the prickly pear into my paintings.

Works of literature seem to inspire greatly as I feel your “Dream of Knowledge” attests. Who are your favourite authors? Have you ever attempted writing?

I enjoy reading about mysticism and about the occult. Ted Williams, Wilbur Smith, Stephen King, Steve Berry and Katherine Neville all stir my soul. I transformed the book Memory of Whiteness by Kim Stanley Robinson into Music of the Spheres – the Orchestra. This book has the universality of music as a central theme. I feel that my painting with the hermaphrodite conductor at its centre, the multitude of instruments and the women in throes of ecstasy as if celebrating the Bacchanalia all portray the central theme.

A friend and patron asked me to read a science fiction book The Eight by Katherine Neville and to paint my impression of the book. The book starts with a legendary chess set wrought entirely from silver and gold, presented by eight Moors to Emperor Charlemagne.

Literature does inspire me but I feel that I express myself better through art and therefore I stick to that medium.

You have exhibited and travelled all over the world. Which country struck you the most?

I have exhibited in places as far flung as China and Australia and every country moves me in a different way. Yet the cosmopolitan Berlin moves me like no other city.

What do you consider your proudest moment?

For the Shangai 2010 Expo there was a poster exhibition. From 2,200 entries only 100 were chosen. Only 10 of these posters were from Europe, the majority being from Asia. My painting was one of these 10. This exhibition will be going around China for the next three years. My painting is Malta’s ambassador. This event is surely one of my proudest moments. Other moments include winning the 2003 Grollo d’Oro.