An exhibition by an established artist of the calibre of Pawl Carbonaro, affectionately known to his many friends as ‘il-Profs’, is always an event in Malta’s small artistic world.
Colour is as important a feature of Carbonaro’s art as is form, and both are vibrantly conceived- Charlene Vella
The ongoing exhibition at Opus 64 Galerie, Tigné Street, Sliema, is in many ways a must to all those who love and cherish his art.
The exhibition which carries the title ‘Sud’ is a paean to the artist’s love of the South of the Mediterranean focusing principally on Malta and the South of Italy, Sicily and Corsica.
Visiting the exhibition and/or having a little knowledge of Carbonaro’s life and interests, you are immediately taken in by his love of the Mediterranean landscape, which to him is a perennial source of inspiration.
The lure of the south is to him the song of the sirens which catches him in an embrace of love that knows no escape. And the Italian landscape is supreme. The Italian title gives him immediately away. One gets the feeling that to him the Maltese landscape is a natural extension, or should I say ramification, of the South Italian.
Carbonaro’s landscapes boarder on the abstract. They are forceful and possess a fiery temperament. The abstract becomes the supreme protagonist in Al Chiar di Luna. An amorous title you may say, but so very typical of him.
It contains all the qualities that one is accustomed to see in his abstracts, such as the line drawing showing through the paint, the ground being allowed to show through, and the inclusion of texture. But it is also calmer.
Al Chiar di Luna was clearly inspired by the scenery that gives life to the other paintings. It possesses the same temperament albeit less fiery.
Savoca Hilltop is bold and the composition minimalistic. You are perched on high ground overlooking the cubical forms conceived in what at first seem to be block colours, but which are not quite so.
Colour is as important a feature of Carbonaro’s art as is form, and both are vibrantly conceived.
A very expressionist rendition of a scene of a Corsican landscape with a bell tower towering over the brightly-conceived houses with gabled roofs, and mountains looming in the distance, is one of the most memorable paintings.
Similarly striking are the mountains of Nebrodi depicted in the background of a landscape that is bathed in light.
Savoca I is executed in a paler palette. The viewer is precariously placed in the middle of a narrow, winding road of the north-eastern Sicilian town, that leads to the mountains, again visible in the distance.
As real as these landscapes were in their inception, being inspired by actual scenes, there is a lot of the imagination at play in all of Carbonaro’s works.
Carbonaro’s native Malta and elements related to it do not fail to feature. Lampuki for instance stands both as a still life and an exhilarating colouristic experience.
Carbonaro’s adoptive home, Żebbuġ is, as one would expect, present. In Żebbuġ II, the small hilltop Gozitan village (which is practically the closest one can get to Sicily and mainland Italy), the scenery is immortalised, resplendent yet rugged, and idyllically beautiful.
Light-infused, evocative, colourful, expressionist, bold, full of texture… These adjectives can be used to describe Carbonaro’s paintings, but some can also be applied to the Mediterranean and its people.
‘Sud’ by Pawl Carbonaro is on at Opus 64 Galerie, Tigné Street, Sliema, until Friday.