An invitation arrived to the official opening of an exhibition by John Spiteri Gingell, brother of the well known artist Stephen. The exhibition is taking place at the Rabat Volunteer Centre, St Bartholomew street. I made up my mind to go as I admired Stephen's drawings of farmhouses on Facebook and he was going to display a handful of them so we could see them at close quarters. I was born in Rabat and have a soft spot for it. It has so much more character than Sliema. St Bartholomew street has a particular charm and you can see each house is loved and cared for. There are still neighbours sitting on their chairs outside. In Sliema this habit has long gone.

There was quite a crowd spilling from the courtyard and into the hall of the Volunteer Centre when I arrived.

The artist Ray Agius gave an intelligent and highly appreciated introduction to John Spiteri Gingell and his art exhibition. No platitudes, no clichés. "John is not the average run of the mill gentleman painter. John is a man of letters. A man for all seasons. He is the well-read, versatile, deep thinking author and painter... His depth can be seen not only in his handywork but sitting down for any protracted discussion on any serious subject." John is also an expert in the Maltese language, I learnt.  "The exhibition wants the viewer to go beyond the visual pleasure of seeing a piece of art. It wants the patron to be aware of what Malta is losing. This heritage in stone and wood that is hidden in plain view will soon be no more. We are talking about the work of artistic masons. The colourful trees and flowers sprouting from impossible holes at impossible angles from a ground that has paved the land in black asphalt. We are losing the beauty of our stone coloured façade tinted by the blues and reds of that wooden door. Façades being replaced by faceless economical and efficient buildings in the fashion of the concrete jungle from foreign lands. Each painting of the colourful doors is obscuring the hopes, dreams and wishes of those happily trapped behind these pieces of art created by simple artisans following their fathers in the trade.

So each door invites your own interpretation of who or what story lives beyond each wooden guardian. Each one a piece of history desperate to be preserved for posterity but needless to say they guard buildings waiting to be rebuilt to provide the footprint for blocks of popular inexpensive human habitation."

John replied, demonstrating to the audience, that his doors meant more than meets the eye. He believes that by continuing what their father started allows his brother Stephen and himself to remain in communion with him. "So why Mill-Bieb il barra. You are going to see doors and apertures; vignettes of buildings inspired by the grammar of local vernacular architecture. From a very early age I have compared a building façade with the facial features of a human being. The façade of a building just like the human face has its own unique features and expressions. The façade shelters those who live within its walls from prying eyes... an intangible feature of our traditional façades must be colour. Vibrant colours that complement our natural Mediterranean light and shadows. It is this play between light and shadow which is at the heart of our cubic, urban townscapes...It is in this conglomerate of light, shadow and colour that the soul of local vernacular architecture is to be found.  That is why it is so depressing to see new blocks arise and dominate the landscape with their dull and dreary brown and grey tones, tones which are alien to our landscape.

The second reason why I called this exhibition Mill-bieb il barra has everything to do with the location in which it is being hosted. An old and beautifully organic part of Rabat. Much of what has inspired the paintings can be found outside these doors. I want you to remember that these buildings and the streets they animate were not built by aliens...They were for the most part built by people who were in the large part illiterate but paradoxically had a highly intuitive sense of beauty... who intrinsically understood what it meant to live in a community that spans generations. People who knew how to turn houses into homes. People who knew how to build on a human scale for people were not designed to dwell in tower blocks - you cannot build communities when you are eight stories high... The problem is that we don't know how to build right anymore. The problem with the monstrosities that are destroying our landscape, culture and identity will not be resolved by an intellectual exercise the issue is more metaphysical. Beauty to me is the consequence of a well disposed soul...If we want to fix our country we have to start with a deep reflection of what it is exactly that we want, where to live it and how to live. The solution lies within us. Do we want beauty to be confined to objects of art captured within picture frames or do we want to live it? Our forefathers did. There is no reason why we cannot either but it would first require a conversion of the soul's orientation."

John's brother Stephen, had a sprinkling of his own drawings on display. He told me he draws because he enjoys it. "And there are two basic reasons why I do so - both involve my father. The first is the pull of the pen...The second is an innate love of the countryside, and its silence, which were sown in my soul in the course of many an afternoon walk taken in my father's company.

One of the drawings on display is entitled The last tenants. It alludes to the manner with which nature reclaims man-made structures, with animals moving

into abandoned buildings as their new occupants - it is both a reflection on the temporality and transience of life as well a little tribute to a much-missed beloved pet, as it seeks to immortalize a playful and loving little cat called Broxka.

Stephen's drawings are not for sale. He is not ready to part with them and also because he has a project in mind.
I asked Tony Gatt, a friend of Stephen's to comment on the exhibition. "All the family cherish our countryside and anything that distinguishes us and makes us Maltese. In his paintings John has such wonderful, vibrant Mediterranean colours. Stephen is more into farmhouses and their surroundings. He generally uses another medium, drawing. Originally his emphasis was on fortifications but lately on farmhouses and their surroundings. Bravi!"

I say, don't miss it. Then pop in for a coffee and pastizzi nearby.

Mill-Bieb 'il barra is open at the Rabat Volunteer Centre, Triq Bartolomew. 

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