I have enjoyed several art exhibitions at St Patrick's over the years, many curated by the late Peter Apap Bologna and his wife Alaine.

The latest exhibition is organised by the National Federation of Past Pupils & Friends of Don Bosco. It is more than an exhibition but an art-project with other activities held between 19 and 25 January. The project is called Colourful Malta in Artworks by Georgian Artists. As part of their Check-in project the organisation invited Georgian artists to visit and paint landscapes of the Maltese islands. The artists donated 39 paintings to the Past Pupils and all proceeds from the sale of the paintings will go to the charitable work for young people who are homeless and lack the support of a family.

 

The aim of the project is to encourage collaboration with Georgia and build a bridge and thus trust. Culture has always been an excellent builder of trust between nations.

During their stay here the artists visited a number of places including Sliema, St Julian's, Valletta, Rabat, Mdina and Marsaxlokk where they set up their paints and painted the artworks I, and many others went to see.

Emeritus President, Dr Marie Louise Coleiro Preca opened the exhibition. She was presented with a book. She gives a great deal of support through her Trust to vulnerable children and young people.

A sea of vivid colour greeted me as soon as I stepped into the exhibition hall. Throughout the exhibition the colour is pitched high, some canvases more vivid than others. Some are poems in paint. Subtelties of colour and texture are very much in evidence. The show is a pleasurable glimpse of Georgian talent. The primary distinction of these works of art is aesthetic merit. This is art in the old sense: you know, pictures you enjoy looking at, that sort of thing. I have been to exhibitions both here and abroad where an exhibition is completely, 100 percent devoid of aesthetic interest. Not a jot, not a scintilla, not an iota of aesthetic interest. A friend told me that some years ago at some Biennale or another which he had visited, an artist's old clothes, as it  happens, had a room to themselves, clothes which the artist had collected over a lifetime were arranged 'provocatively.' If that isn't boring then I don't know what is. Significent art, as far as I am concerned, cannot be made out of unsuitable and unsatisfying material. Some 'art' these days trades almost exclusively in the politicised, sexually perverse rubbish that substitutes for art. I refuse to the taken in.

In this exhibition one I can find the same boats, balconies, waves, sea, sky, domes as one finds in many an exhibition and art gallery. But are they the same? My answer is no, they are not. I really cannot say that what is exhibited is played-out old hat. I didn't get the feeling that I'd seen it all before. Some paintings made more impact than others. And really impact is the main thing with painting. Some create a mood. Some are mysterious, enigmatic. What did the artist have in mind when he was painting it? A few have a touch of gold which I like. The Georgian artists have been communing with the sights and spirits of various parts of Malta and bring their own talents and experience to the paintings. I cannot pick out the various influences which make up these artists. I know nothing about them except that they are Georgian.

While unlikely to change the world these artists provide pleasure of an unpretentious nature.

It must be satisfying for an artist to know that a few fellow citizens, or indeed even those beyond the artist's shores like his work enough to part with their money and own it.

Art colours life.

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The Exhibition will be open to the public at 14, Sashebo, St John Bosco Street, Sliema from Monday 30 January to Thursday between 8.30 and 16.00. If you wish to visit after the opening hours, please call 99296552 for an appointment.

 

The artists from Georgia who participated are: Ia Arsenashvili, Besarion Ginturi, Robert Bagdavadze, Maia Samtchkuashvili, Manana Didzikashili, Medea Tchkadua, Mzekala Berdzenishvili, Nino Dzidzikashvili, T. Valmo, Iuri Skrinnikov, Viktoria Rostomashvili, Mariami Dzidzikashvili.