Colourful Maltese touch at European Parliament

A section of the sprawling building that is the European Parliament in Brussels took on a warm, Mediterranean feel the other day when for the first time six Maltese artists exhibited their works.

The exuberant colours that the painters displayed on their canvases charmed the visitors who came in from under the overcast skies and the cold weather to view the exhibition.

The six artists - Nicholas Magro, Anna Galea, Lino Borg, Patrick Dalli, Celia Borg Cardona and Lawrence Buttigieg - got their chance to exhibit in this cauldron of activity of the 25 EU member states thanks to the initiative and persistence of Nationalist MEP David Casa. Each artist exhibited five works.

In his inaugural speech at the exhibition, Mr Casa said that only a short time after Malta joined the EU, Maltese artists now had a platform for their work to be seen by many people in the heart of Europe.

Mr Borg showed a series of landscapes which he said he painted on site.

"The paintings are a synthesis of what I see. I do not copy nature. The location is the excuse for my painting although the colours I apply are cleaner and more brilliant than the original," Mr Borg said.

Mr Dalli moved somewhat away from his perennial nudes, also presenting two landscapes. He studied under Anton Calleja and has also exhibited in Adenau in Germany. This, he said, was an occasion that enabled artists to move into the bigger ocean from the small pool back home.

Just A Cabbage is one of the works by Ms Galea whose forte is watercolours. Her artistic endeavours have won her the first prize in one of the national art exhibitions organised by the Malta Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce and the first prize in the watercolour section of the Silver Palette competition organised by the same society. The efforts of all the people involved in such an event would go the further mile if international news agencies such as Euronews and CNN were to feature them in their broadcasts, Ms Galea said.

Mr Magro, known as Lino, besides being one of the artists, was entrusted by Mr Casa to curate the exhibition and he tried to get a good mix of artists which was not an easy task.

His work focused on the heritage, tradition and the history of Malta. His mentors were Esprit Barthet, Harry Alden and Anton Calleja.

"It is greatly satisfying to be able to exhibit at the European Parliament and bring one's work to the attention of Europe at large," was how he put it. Street Life is the series that Ms Borg Cardona came up with. She enjoys people-watching and by means of sketches and at times photographs she meshes the thoughts that race through her mind when she comes to record what she sees as a concoction of the whole experience.

An avid reader of Alain de Botton's books on art and philosophy, she finds it hard, she says, to switch from her profession of a pharmacist - where the bottom line is to be exact and precise - to art where boundaries and limitations have no standing.

This was not the first time that Mr Buttigieg has exhibited overseas. He has shown his works in Rome (2003) and twice in Vancouver in Canada (2001 and 2002). An architect by profession, he showed two nudes, two landscapes and a portrait.

"It is fascinating to be able to exhibit in such a location where so many politicians and members of the public come into contact and to think about how these works of art are read by people coming from so many diverse backgrounds," he said.

In his speech, Mr Casa said that as he and the other Maltese MEPs had moved to Brussels as politicians to voice the opinions and expectations of the Maltese, likewise, the artists had exhibited their works to broadcast Malta's call.

"These artistic expressions reflect the unique character of our country which is European as much as it is Mediterranean," Mr Casa added.