Following the launch of her architecture-inspired exhibition Construct, artist Celia Borg Cardona chats to Jo Caruana about the processes that led her to this dynamic solo showcase.

Our surroundings provide so much inspiration for creativity. From unspoilt nature to state-of-the-art man-made design, so many artists take their motivation from the world that envelops them.

Well-known artist Celia Borg Cardona is no different and last weekend marked the launch of her long-awaited new solo exhibition, Construct.

This time round her paintings are a little different. Although she has regularly been hailed for her dynamic representations of people, this showcase marks a turning point and a shift towards paintings of architecture.

It is a clear diversion from her last solo exhibition, Scene from Above, held in November 2010, in which she focused on bird’s eye views of gatherings of people.

“From the animate to the inanimate, I’ve moved on since then to buildings which dwarf us,” she says when asked about what stimulated this new set of work.

“Now I’m looking up or looking across and I am taking sweeping views of buildings and architecture. I am also using far larger canvases that suit the subject better.”

Borg Cardona has grappled with the depiction of architecture before. In her previous exhibitions it was the context for the main subjects of the paintings: the study of groupings of people.

In this exhibition her emphasis is the pleasing geometrical symmetries that result when light hits buildings. “I suppose it was time for me to do it,” she says.

“Buildings fascinate me – I like how they are created by humans, only to dwarf them or to protect them.”

The artist describes how she has no idea why this exhibition came to fruition now – even though it has been on the cards for a long time.

Buildings fascinate me – I like how they are created by humans, only to dwarf them or to protect them

“This last year has been very much about gazing at architecture and my growing fascination with it,” she says.

“I started working on paintings which featured architecture, shorn of narrative or people. I suppose it is part of the process of paring down to the very elemental.”

Borg Cardona’s art has certainly catapulted her into the spotlight over the years, especially when you consider that she only started painting later in life and first exhibited solo in 2004.

Down from the Gate.

Following years as a pharmacist, she now loves the lone factor that comes from being an artist – the hours spent in her studio, single-mindedly focusing on painting. “Sometimes you enter an almost trance-like state where your mind is linked to your hand, which is­­, in turn, linked to the canvas,” she says. “It is this dialogue that takes over and, at that moment, is the only one that matters.

“Of course there are challenges and for me these include the need to show, sell and hold up my art to be judged.

“I am fortunate that my paintings seem to have always been well-received, however it is still an anxious moment when an exhibition is about to open. The doubts and worries are really the worst part of the process.”

With that in mind, Construct will be curated by Francesca Balzan, a fellow artist who has worked with Borg Cardona on several events before.

In fact, the two regularly meet to paint portraits and have even collaborated on a sculpture project a few years ago – the winning entry in the Malta International Airport International Sculpture Competition, which was installed at the Schengen wing of the Malta International Airport in 2006.

“Francesca is very experienced thanks to her work as a historian and brought a lot to this exhibition,” Borg Cardona says.

“However, we also have a long-term friendship, so I have felt very comfortable having her curate and observe my working methods.”

Together, they chose the Upper Halls of St James Cavalier as the ideal location thanks so the space available, as few galleries can accommodate the large painting in the exhibition, or match their contemporary style.

Finally, I ask the painter where she finds her inspiration. “That’s never a problem,” she smiles.

“Absolutely everything around you can be a spur to creativity. However, it is very much about having a personal vision and a very particular way of seeing and depicting that which is before you.

“For me it is about interpreting what I see in my own very personal language. Even what I choose to depict is an assertion of an artist’s very personal vision.

“In this particular collection you will be seeing a lot of Valletta. Valletta is a never-ending inspiration. Whether you look up, down, peer inside shaded buildings or take long views from across the rooftops, Valletta never fails to inspire. Thus, the setting is also very fitting and I hope the results will be well-liked,” she adds.

Construct runs until November 10 at St James Cavalier, Valletta.

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