It is the result of constant reflection, of deep and lengthy meditation with hardly any spontaneous twists or improvised tracts or wanton liberties. It is the experienced study of technique in pen and ink to capture the spirit and soul of places, objects, atmosphere and mood in time and space. And as Joseph Navarro states “my work documents the history of my country”, uttered with a certain pride. And continues: “since I am not eloquent verbally or with the written word I use the medium of painting to document social history, architecture, folklore and the natural history of my country with pen and ink”. It is a patient and laborious exercise that takes not days or weeks but months and years of back-breaking travail.

The work of Navarro is unique in several aspects. It is a highly professional exercise by a master of work that should finally find itself on a museum wall. The subject is wholly figurative, realistic and naturalistic bordering on neo-realism reaching towards surrealism and the metaphysical. He treats the baroque or rococo facades of houses of character and palaces with traditional balconies hewn in stone, country scenes and hilltop towns, trees and gnarled roots of old olives trees, boats, luzzu and kayaks in all their crafted detail, the stepped quay at Kalkara, fishermen’s wooden huts part of our vernacular, folklore abutting our bastions and the rocky foreshore with wind whipped crested waves breaking ravenously on the shore. Not to be ignored or lightly received is a copy of a 1700 map of Malta with all its details that includes escutcheons, coat-of-arms, cartouche and false frame. It is a bravura or virtuosity in itself!

The work of Navarro creates the atmosphere and mood, the soul and spirit of the place. His work can be referred to as animist as he captures the intimacy of place, its internal nature and characteristic spirit and though he tends to locate it by its toponym his works are universal. His rocky forshore is imbued with character, with spirit and not unlike John Hudson, Navarro researches deep to capture its primieval origin and its growth or decline through erosion and denudation tortured by waves, and the elements: weather and climate. His rock formations are unique, the result of contemplation as the force of the waves eat and indent as if bitten by shark’s teeth until it becomes like a giant comb. He studies the oscillatory power of waves as they break on the shore and the force of the wind  whipping their surface into droplets of spray that hurt the skin like needles as they fly through the damp air. His works become surreal as he changes reality into a nightmare or  beautiful dream.

Navarro is obsessed by fishermen’s huts, frugal and made from flotsam. He is against their destruction, especially those that stand against the bastions, as he regards them as accretions that add to the historical connotation of bastions transformed into sculpture without function but retaining their aesthetic tributes. Researchers might not agree but the haunting quality of his fishermen’s huts tend to make you reflect. It’s like destroying trees, plants, animals or humans.

In technique Navarro reaches great heights and perhaps it’s with his technique that he develops his works from craft into art. His bravura with pen and ink is formidable. His incised line coupled with his refined, elegant, meticulous, clean and clincal manner can hardly be mistaken. Laborious work that leaves one dumbfounded, incredulous, overwhelming with the perfection, precision and excellence reached that they might be mistaken for printed material.

The work of Navarro is monumental without becoming cold like marble, natural, realistic and essentially figurative. It is the direct result of reflection and meditation. It takes time to evolve and therefore the opposite of spontaneous, like wine it ferments gradually in the subconscious until gradually it builds into matter that vibrates with life.

Note: The exhibition Melitensia by Joseph Navarro is open to the public at Cavalieri Art Hotel – Apollo Hall, until 9 October.