The World was a Zephyr

An exhibition by Damian Ebejer at Il-Ħaġar – Heart of Gozo museum in Victoria presents a set of abstract expressionist paintings. While Ebejer has had several art exhibitions in Malta and abroad, this is his first exhibition in Gozo.

The exhibition is made up of a series of paintings which are characterised by their versatile styles, both in the diverse composition and stylistic technique. Most of them are painted in natural lime, acrylic and oil on quite differently sized canvases.

The overall cool and subdued chromatic palette is a distinguishing mark of this exhibition evoking a sense of composure and balance to the work but which allows other elements to impart a stronger emotional connection with the viewer. The exhibited works create a sense of anticipation echoing American philosopher John Dewey’s sense of aesthetic experience.

Some of the works, such as Final Heartbeat and A study of a Conflict, with Red, fall under the abstract-expressionist umbrella but they also recall the colour field artists. This is evident in the broad use of colour straps divided by horizontal zip-lines. The inclusion of mash material in a Study of a Conflict, with Red and drips of paint in Final Heartbeat add an expressionistic streak to the divided chromatic abstract surfaces which remind us more of Rothko’s and Newman’s works.

The Fragility of Peace

The uneven division and composition of these paintings in unequal colour blocks divided by white or coloured lines add interest and curiosity to the work making the works look less spontaneous and more studied. Nonetheless, the works still manage to grip the viewer and force him or her into an affective engagement.

She passes through the Veils of Night is an abstract piece of work dominated by a brownish dark background which gives way to an opening towards the lower right of the painting for white light to come in. Its composition follows the previous two works described above. In ancient art, night is represented as a woman wrapped in a black veil.

With allusions to Flammarion’s wood engraving and the veil of Isis, the painting describes a threshold and a passing from one state to another –life to death, ignorance to knowledge and materiality to spirituality. Once one passes through, or lifts, a veil one undergoes a revelation (re-veil), gets in touch with a different way of knowing and goes beyond the illusory world to discover the mysteries and ultimate truths.

Ebejer transcends a two dimension surface with three-dimensionality, and gives a metaphysical sense to his work. The artist, despite the post-modernistic claims that everything is surface, flat, appearance and horizontality, that have superseded the dualistic models of depth and surface, essence and appearance, latent and manifest, ventures on by himself to arrive to his own truths.

In White Room, the colour white dominates the painting, which represents an inside view of a room with a window view towards the outside. Three bold colour stripes line the window view with red dominating not only the view but also the whole picture. The artist’s invitation to enter the room helps us to appreciate a new sensibility towards the animated external world. The window captures the process of physical distancing and introversion so as to experience beauty of nature and one’s own nature.

Works are characterised by their versatile styles both in the diverse composition and stylistic technique

The three colours of black, white and red feature in Out of Nothing. From the nothingness of the black, white and red are born, executed in wide brush strokes. White appears at the very bottom while red strokes climb up like a candle flame lit at night. The black background and red strokes are much stronger than the lighter white brush strokes. Will the alchemical transmutation of black from red to white be a success? We are left guessing and hoping. Once again we are kept on edge.

Rape of Europa

Fragility of Peace leaves us gasping for air. The partial fluid technique in the work creates curious form and texture. The theme of this work gives the painting a quasi-surrealist painting. It is made up of a painted white egg tied with a piece of string hanging between two slanting rugged slopes in the form of a V or an open beastly mouth. The beige plane in the background contrasts with the slanting rock line shapes in the foreground. Here, Ebejer proves to be a master of juxtaposition through his depiction of an egg in mid pale colour space in the throes of a deadly abyss, created with fluid-like rugged structures.

The composition of Fragility of Peace gives it a sense of suspense and drama, and the viewer is kept wondering if the string will hold as it is suspended high up above dangerous rocks. Poised at a point of anticipation, the act of hanging creates apprehension of something about to happen, a pregnant pause and the promise of as yet undecided possibilities. The egg symbolises creation, birth and hope and with this work the artist demonstrates how vulnerable these qualities are today.

The sense of waiting and anticipation is also portrayed in the small painting on a gunny sack entitled Winter Shore. The bluish palette of a calm wintry seascape at night under a pale moon gives it a calm and contemplative atmosphere reminding us that spring might be round the corner. Ebejer is a master of drama, suspense and intrigue, yet a restrained one.

Study of Conflict with Red

In The World was a Zephyr a globe is placed amidst two bands of blue and red colour, blue in the bottom are and red in the upper level. This is painted on a large canvas. The green globe is covered by an open white see-through veil which is blowing from a zephyr.

Here the political is engaged as he reflects on the state of the world today. The word zephyr in the title, comes from the Greek word ‘zophos’ which means gloom and dark. Ebejer might be contemplating the bleak atmosphere that has loomed over the world. Today we are deeply mired in the shadow aspect of the veil, so much so that we have great difficulty seeing that there is a veil or that there might exist expanded dimensions beyond this veil.

In this collection there are also two abstract paintings which are characterised by the fluid technique entitled Rape of Europa and Alphabet of Desire. Both titles allude to the theme of passion and desire. Rape of Europa portrays the strength of two of Empedocles natural elements, namely earth and water.

Evokes a sense of composure and balance

The painting is characterised by a tension of movement versus stasis, echoing the divine powers of love and strife which bring the attraction or separation of the elements. Rock-like structures are visible to the left of the painting and these are surrounded with water which gushes downwards to the left from the upper right.

In Alphabet of Desire, the red, black and turquoise colours dominate the painting. These colours vie between them for more visibility in an explosion of creative force avalanching, from upper left to bottom right, over a yellowish background. The fluid technique leaves the colours to mix and cover each other spontaneously.

Out of Nothing

While the black hue threatens to dampen the bolder red and bluish colour, both colours still survive the onslaught. The red colour surfaces, albeit in a thin red line form, but visible nonetheless. The artist allows himself to be more indulgent in the choice of strong vibrant colours which contrast with the more restrained palette of his other exhibited works.

Here, we are surprised once again as he refuses to conform to his own ways of doing things.

The artist presents us with a series of paintings which are imbued with the aesthetics of apprehension and anticipation, dealing with beauty through chaos. Through his art, he communicates his efforts to trust himself in the life process despite an overarching sense of tension and uncertainty. Ebejer relies on angst and unrest in order to fuel his creative fire and artistic becomings, which help us to reflect on our reality and what is to come.