Ben HurAn exhibition by Paul Caruana titled Telltales (Ħrejjef ta’ Veru) will be on display at Palazzo De Piro in Mdina as from today.
Caruana’s watercolours recall a poignant observation by US musician Billy Joel who noted that “artists always seem to have had not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life but the most accurate perception of what was really going on around them”.
Processions are meant to be solemn manifestations, however, there come moments when the religiosity of the occasion is thrown haywire.
In the watercolour painting titled Ben Hur – one of 20 watercolours that Caruana will be exhibiting – the artist manages to record such a hapless diversion in an animated and humane fashion.
“I happened to catch a slim and saucy woman make a grand entrance into a religious ritual which simply threw the rest of the crowd off balance.
“The four racing pooches, reined in majestically by their unrelenting mistress, reminded me of the final chariot race between Messala and Judah Ben Hur in the Hollywood blockbuster movie Ben Hur. The odd thing is that this sporty lady didn’t bat an eyelid, while for those around her, the world seemed about to tilt off its axis,” says Caruana.
The exhibition opens today at Palazzo de Piro in Mdina and runs until October 31. During the week it will be open between 9.30am and 5pm, and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9.30am to 10pm.