The exhibition, titled Anima, showcases 10 aquarelle drawings and around 30 oil paintings. Born in Mosta in 1952, Dione Borg started his career locally at the Malta School of Art and some of his acclaimed tutors included Anton Agius, Harry Alden and Esprit Barthet. He kept working on his art when he moved to Canada for 19 years. His artistic output and career have continued to develop here in Malta since he moved back in 1994.
Borg's method is very direct and spontaneous, giving space to his creative impulses that later materialise into artistic works in a natural way. He claims that he tries to organise chaos by giving a direction to his compositions in an economical way.
Not surprisingly, the main part of the exhibition consists of oil on canvas paintings since Borg feels that this medium best expresses his artistic vision, while he utilises colour and the human figure as tools to explore his creative expression. In Borg's work the figure is not represented in a naturalistic or realistic way but as an impulse to spark his own interpretation, where the artist gives free reign to his artistic exploration to manifest itself.
The exhibition is curated by Roderick Camilleri, who explained that this collaboration started out since the two have known each other for a long time as colleagues teaching art together. Camilleri's role as curator was to help the artist in the creative process, but also to support the project logistically: "Borg and myself collaborated on this exhibition from the start - together we came up with the visual concept, we chose the artworks and established the exhibition's theme. I visited Dione various times at his studio, where we discussed at length and worked in tandem to achieve a refined show that will speak to the audience. My role served to provide a framework and present the visual and artistic content to the public in the best possible way."
Anima remains open until 31 January at the Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo de La Salle, Valletta.
For more information visit www.artsmalta.org and www.dioneborg.com