How do mental health and art tie in together? Johnathan Cilia has that question answered by artist and Richmond Foundation resident Leonard Portelli.

Striking art is ostensibly art that captures something. A moment in time, an expression, a feeling – artists can channel their emotions and moods through their art, and many of the world’s greatest artists have found themselves straddling a line that pushes them to their limits, many times to the benefit of their artwork, if not their social life.

Those who are able to create the most touching pieces must be gifted in interpreting their emotions and relaying the world’s stimuli through their experience. A major factor in this is the artist’s temperament; the artist’s outlook on the world will colour their paintings. So when I met Leonard Portelli, introduced as a mental health patient who had spent time in Mt Carmel for his mood disorder, I wasn’t expecting such elation for life.

Portelli is a Maltese artist who has exhibi­ted his work in the US and Australia, with some pieces still on permanent exhibition in those places. He was born in 1955, and spent 20 years living in Melbourne. He’s been painting since he was a child, and his relationship with art is one of the healthiest I’ve ever seen.

I meet him in one of the hostels run by the Richmond Foundation, a sort of halfway home where mental health patients can begin to re-enter society. The quiet suburban area is just what Leonard was looking for: “I’ve been here for seven months and it’s just beautiful here,” he says, pointing out multiple statues of St George in the vicinity – this is his hometown of Qormi, after all.

The hostel has converted their ground floor garage into a large art studio, with a billiard table for kicks, that Leonard has happily inhabited. The walls are covered with paintings, with stacks of finished and unfinished works laying everywhere. Paints of all colours, canvases of all sizes, and a large set of related utensils are found on his literal drawing board.

He points at one especially colourful and abstract piece hanging on the wall.

“I’m really proud of this one,” he smiles, while looking at the painting. His bright paintings exude positivity. As he himself says, he is an anti-pessimist.

“I’m very focused on happiness. Life is beautiful, there’s no time to waste it. I like the faces of happy people, happy colours. Nice colours that don’t annoy.”

Dressed in black myself, I wonder if I have inadvertently gone against his colour scheme. He laughs.

“I am very touchy about the colour black... it’s good to work with sometimes, but I am wary of it. It has to be the right situation.” He has large, bright, chaotic canvases in the vein of Pollack, and other more geometry-influenced work reminiscent of Picasso. He has gaudy work that was inspired by the carnival festival that wouldn’t look out of place in an early Klimt exhibition.

But it is his simple black and white sketches that catch my eye. He points towards these sketches, and starts flicking through them. He points to a sketch of a house. “There are plenty of people who get into lots of problems, and there are a lot of people who lock the doors and close themselves off from society,” he says in explanation of the black and white house. He turns the page, and reveals more stark pictures – images of people who are overdosing, people getting beaten, people being robbed while they sleep, people about to hang themselves and people losing their jobs and ending up on the streets.

It’s very hard to make people happy, so I paint to make them happy

Putting the sketches away, Leonard looks at me and solemnly says: “I like it when a family is close together and they are happy together.” He then points towards the ceiling, towards the rest of the people at the hostel. “We are all here and it’s like a family. We live together. I mean, we’ve had people who come here and have had problems. But I’ve been hospitalised myself so I understand what it’s like,” he said calmly.

“I’m not pessimistic about places like Mt Carmel,” he continues. “The people here, they gave me the opportunity to hang my work there, they are nice people.” He even had a studio at the institution, and proudly informs me he still has his work hanging there today. “That gave me the chance to show some of the other patients different colours. They liked it,” he beams. “It’s very hard to make people happy, so I paint to make them happy.”

The scene at the art studio.The scene at the art studio.

He then turns to a new set of paintings of his – images of planets and stars, the universe itself as seen through his eyes, in a totally different style than his other works. Then, he turns to a very large painting of his, metres long. He points to a woman’s face amidst the abstract Picasso-esque shapes. “Do you see that face? People think that she’s a Madonna, but in reality, she’s a punk!” he chuckles heartily. “To be honest I like the people with the mohawks and the holes in their clothes, they really amaze me, they are beautiful.”

For Portelli, standing out and being yourself is essential to being alive. “I like it when something is different, even in my work, as you can see it’s all different. I also like fish... I like seafood,” he says, laughing and pointing to some fishy shapes in the same painting.

His unique perspective and various art styles – and long career in art – led to an invitation by the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society to host an exhibition at San Anton Palace gardens last February, where the President herself had a chance to view his work and meet Portelli. She was impressed by his work, calling it a strong statement in favour of inclusion and abilities, and against the stigma that mental health still has in Malta.

Portelli has fond memories of meeting the President – even if they had a bit of a rocky start. “When I met her, I got stuck trying to say the word ‘honourable’,” he laughs. “And she just turned to me and told me not to worry, that we’d known each other for a long time so I could call her whatever I liked.”

But then he turns serious. “The President was lost for words when she saw my work, she really liked it and she invited me to go to back the Palace any time I wanted... I was very pleased,” he says proudly. With further exhibitions planned for this year Portelli is happy that people are enjoying his art, but feels like he has so much more to give. “Believe me, I can do an exhibition within one week. And you know what I’d like to see? I’d like to see this work hung up.”

He points towards his biggest works: “I’d like to do some more of these and have them hung permanently. They already are in Melbourne in community centres, so we should put them to good use here.”

With painting and sketching being used so well as his medium for expression, Portelli is aware of how central art is in his life. “If I end up not doing art, someday, I’ll be so miserable because this is helping me and others. What I’d like to say to people is simple – enjoy the life you’re living now, and live with your family as one.”

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