Last Saturday, 8 February, Joanne Fenech Portelli’s latest solo art exhibition entitled ‘Pajsaggi’ was inaugurated by Parliamentary Secretary Dr Ian Borg at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat, Malta.  Dr Gerald Bugeja also addressed the guests at the opening with an appreciation of Joanne’s artwork. 

 In Dr Bugeja’s own words, Fenech Portelli’s paintings, which vary from watercolour, to pastel, to acrylic, and to oil, continue to enrich Malta’s pictorial heritage.  Dr Bugeja continued by saying that Joanne’s paintings can be divided into two categories, those that put an accent on nature alone without human presence, and those that entwine nature with the human element of civilisation, like churches, chapels, niches, and fortifications. In the first category we find scenes like The Blue Grotto, Il-Qolla l-Bajda, Filfla, Chadwick Lakes and Wied iz-Zurrieq.

 In Filfla the artist has given the small rock a special relief, as it seems to be enlarged by a lens, framed by the Maltese prickly pear plant, by another indigenous plant, and  by a shallow wall. It is as if the viewer is looking through a window and sees something unexpected, a common Surrealist art technique. Filfla’s profile also complements the curved forms of the prickly pear leaves and the waves of the sea.  The rock seems to be taking shade under the big leaves, as if being protected by nature.  Since Filfla itself is painted a bit larger than reality, and dark in colour, it doesn’t clash with the big leaves, hence plant and rock seem to belong to each other.  One can note the purple dabs on the leaves and plants which complement the purple with which Filfla is painted.  One can easily imagine Filfla to be a person in repose dreaming an ancient eternal and infinite dream. The impression it leaves on the viewer is that of something magical, untouched and that has never been spoilt by the civilisation represented by the shallow wall underneath.

The two Chadwick Lakes scenes  are different as one is in watercolour, and the other in pastel.  Symbolic Art is represented in the watercolour study where we see tall stylised trees creating a linear perspective like Gothic architecture, and aerial perspective, where the tonality is light and faded to create a sense of depth.  The interesting brightness found in the water reflections echoes in the whiteness of the background: and the ground upon which the water flows takes the shape of a passage leading the viewer inside the painting. Joanne manages to express this mystical divine light with very delicate and refined brushstrokes which diminish and fade in the pure light of the sky.

In Early Spring in Chadwick Lakes, Joanne gives us an impressionistic landscape painted in the Pointillism technique: the small colourful dabs create a harmonious sense in the nature that is being reborn in the new season.  The artist entwines the cool colours with the warm ones thus forming a magical and surrealist atmosphere of awe: these are indeed interiorised landscapes, transformed in soulful scenes. In Blue Grotto and Il-Qolla l-Bajda, Joanne manages to sew together the elements of the sea, the land and the plants, in the movement of the waves breaking against the rocks, inviting the viewer to participate in this sensation of inspiration.

 In the second category of landscapes, we find those where nature and civilisation come together, where the artist gives importance to religious sites, a tradition that goes back to the Romantic period.  In St Agatha’s Catacombs the scene is half taken by the chapel which leads underground: the chapel’s classical structure is giving the impression of strength and veneration, together with fear in the closed gates, thus interpreting death, a place from where there is no return.  Yet, this is contrasted by the trees which are evergreen and alive.  Hope is restored in the foreground tree which is found in front of the doorway, like it is for Christians, hence death being interpreted as the door to life.

 In the rural scene of St Ann and the chapel of St Matthew, we find the oneness in the juxtaposition between religion and farming, where St Ann’s statue is more like an apparition in all its brightness, occupying all the landscape’s planes, thus protecting the farmer, diligent in his work. 

Symbolism is found once more in Peaceful Countryside beneath the Cross. We not only see the Cross dominating the scene on the right, but also the Lunzjata chapel on the left.  The hues of the Maltese limestone in the chapel are reflected in the whiteness of the rocks, where chapel and rocks are connected by a winding passage, symbol of mankind’s difficulties to reach spirituality.  It is as if the artist not only wanted to paint the cross in itself, but also the existential cross that is needed to purify one’s soul.

Mystic Temples depicts the massive stones which occupy nearly all of the space in the scene.  The stones have warm tones that are also repeated in the sky and ground.  In every one of them we find cool blue zones like the blue in the sky.  It is obvious that the artist’s message is only one: those temples unite sky and earth: they make us hope and rejoice in the vivid colours painted by the artist. 

 As the artist herself says, she remains in awe in front of nature’s phenomena. In fact, in Il-Fawwara, and the two paintings both depicting Wied iz-Zurrieq, she chooses the highest point of view to paint in order to be able to put the viewer above the landscape, to convey a sensation of wonder.  On the contrary then, the artist chooses to stand beneath Majestic Mdina, and Tal-Virtu` Chapel & Castle, where she chooses the lowest point of view.  The viewer here feels that the Cathedral, fortifications, and chapel are reigning above the countryside.  The Mdina architecture reminds us of the Cubist movement, while the clean and crisp colours of the stylised trees remind us of some Tuscan landscape by Piero della Francesca.

 With these landscapes, as Dr Bugeja concluded, Joanne Fenech Portelli takes inspiration from the Maltese landscape, to make it her very own, and to choose from reality what she deems essential, to entwine it in an interior landscape of the soul, not very much different from those of Giorgio Morandi.  Hence, with this transformation, Joanne enriches the phenomenal elements surrounding her thus giving them a symbolic charge, surrealistic and metaphysical: these landscapes serve as well to stimulate us to get to know our real identity.  The exhibition forms part of the Agape Festival and will remain open until 20 February between 9.30am and 5.pm daily. For more information one can visit the artist’s website www.joannefineart.com