“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me” – Marcel Proust (In Search of Lost Time).

Nostalgia

The paintings of Alex Dalli evoke an emotion similar to the one Marcel Proust ex-perienced while eating a Madeleine cupcake – that strange sense of detachment from reality, a slow descent into nostalgia, that sacred warmth enveloping the fragrant memories of our childhood.

Dalli’s painting Nostalgia induces a remembrance of things past. The frail plant that withstood the ravages of wind and weather, yet relinquished its precious hold of seeds as our hands ran along its sinuous length, cupping a hold of arrows that would soon be launched like missiles and attach themselves to the woollen fabric of a cardigan worn by a friend.

The vexation that resulted in another plucked plant and sweet revenge. Simple games that preceded computer games and such like, when fun was light and sunny and a grazed knee meant that a young child was growing up and experiencing the world around them.

Dalli’s world is one governed by an ethereal light and by memories. His paintings are windows that open onto lost worlds, or ones that have always been there, but are at times found beyond our field of vision – which has been tainted by adulthood. The artist has a poetic ability to effortlessly paint empty space, silence and solitude – very much like Edward Hopper did so eloquently, in his masterpiece Room by the Sea. Dalli’s solitude is intrinsically related to a sense of internal well-being and spiritual balance that resonates in his art.

There is a certain beauty in the darkest alleyways of one’s existence and Dalli wrests it out

Dalli always stresses the importance of a strong academic education and holds his tutors in very high regard. The teachings of George Fenech (1926-2011), Esprit Barthet (1919-1999) and Harry Alden (1931-) must have rubbed off on the then young budding artist, in whose works one can find traces of Fenech’s soft palette, the geometrical rhythm of Barthet’s composition, and the hard edge technique of Alden.

Fisherman

Dalli also greatly esteems Maltese modern painter Anton Inglott (1915-1945). A common syntax can be observed to exist between the works of the two artists: one that entails a spiritual wellness and the elimination of unnecessary detail. Mark Rothko’s minimalism, too, is a major inspiration for Dalli, who frequently mentions the American artist when talking about his own work.

Dalli’s collection of paintings, which will be exhibited in Germany, appears to present icons of Maltese identity. There is a strong evocation of Malteseness in Dalli’s work. Yet, this occurs without the saccharin danger of descending into the cuteness or quaintness of a souvenir. Malta has repeatedly been raped in the name of the monster we like to refer to as progress. Its architecture, countryside and way of life have been pillaged and plundered. Slivers of such memories arise in these paintings, whereby the artist finds inspiration in the unimportant, in the commonplace, and enriches it with a dignity that borders on the spiritual.

Ageing

A flight of steps, the intricate ironwork of a Maltese balcony, a solitary weed, a windmill, the ageing weathered bark of a tree, a creeping shadow, an open window, a couple of stones in a field: to each of these Dalli imparts an elegiac mood that is at once cathartic and wistful.

It is not in the character of the artist to be negative. Evil does not figure in his vocabulary. I find this Kierkegaardian axiom to be particularly relevant, and it might go a long way towards explaining the philosophy that is his driving force: “Not until a man has inwardly understood himself and then sees the course he is to take does his life gain peace and meaning.”

His previous work as a nurse at the hospital in the cardiac care unit must have been a very humbling experience for him. Dealing with people on the threshold of death drives the point home that mere seconds separate life from the afterlife. Shadow and light thus come to coexist as two sides of the same metaphorical coin.

Looking Forward

There is a certain beauty in the darkest alleyways of one’s existence, and Dalli wrests it out and makes it shine. Gabriel Caruana’s advice earlier in the younger artist’s life, encouraging him to persevere and never give up on his chosen path, certainly seems to have encouraged him to pursue his art and see it flourish.

Looking at the paintings of this exhibition feels like walking along a long lost path in the midst of time, attempting to catch a whiff of that elusive past in the hope that some of it does resurface.

This is Dalli’s first international solo exhibition and it is due to open on May 28 at the Culture Eschborn Museum. Eschborn is a city outside Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital.

The exhibition is being co-organised by the office of the mayor of Eschborn, the curator of the Eschborn Culture Museum, Żabbar council and the Embassy of Malta in Berlin.