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Maltese Artist’s Powerful Figurative Landscapes Are Highlighting The Island’s Identity Struggles And Heritage

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Aesthetics of Disappearance by Nick Inguanez is a series of figurative landscapes which create parallelism between time and our surroundings. This conceptual exhibition’s aim is to highlight the meaning of heritage as part of our identity and its struggle to keep up with the process of change.

“I cannot hide the fact that the initial idea stemmed from a negative observation of the current situation we are experiencing in our urban and natural environments,” Nick Inguanez told Lovin Malta. The exhibition centres around the loss of character in our landscapes and the excess of consistency in Malta.

The series consists of 30 pieces, 20 of which are framed concept studies. The other 10 are larger versions of the work on canvas, and Nick presented his initial sketches alongside his final results to create a dialogue between the primal phase of his work and the end product.

Aesthetics of Disappearance also marks the first time Nick has ever worked with conceptual installations. “I combined the use of salvaged stone, paint, light and a large scale canvas as a backdrop for the shadowplay of the audience to be cast onto it. The idea here is to create an interesting juxtaposition of old and new with the contemporary installation existing simultaneously within the historic context of the Sala dei Cavalieri at Palazzo de la Salle, Valletta,” Inguanez said.

“We are surrounded by heritage and a rich cultural legacy which has given us an identity, yet which we are disregarding and choosing to overwrite”

His artistic intention was to bring out the ironic reality between the urban and natural landscapes around us.

Studio 8

“To me, art should speak to the audience in an ambiguous yet relevant manner without imposing any feeling. I like to think of art as a spectacle of the heightened experience of emotion,”

Inguanez is fascinated with capturing the soul and atmosphere of his subjects rather than just their anatomy.

“For me, the intangible attributes of a moment, place and person are intertwined facets which together contribute to the soul of a good work of art,” he said.

His work is a soft and enigmatic message to the viewers; it does not speak to the audience in a loud manner, but rather in a softly spoken whisper. “Art should speak to the audience in an ambiguous yet relevant manner without imposing any feeling. I like to think of art as a spectacle of the heightened experience of emotion. I strongly believe art can offer an experience of narration and inspiration,” he said.

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“The problem arises not because of the replacement and development in its own right, which I am in favour of, but because this change is happening at the expense of lesser value due to lack of sensitivity, especially to the past,” Nick said.

This body of works translates empathy and the notion of timelessness in light of our changing circumstances.

“The problem arises not because of the replacement and development in its own right, which I am in favour of, but because this change is happening at the expense of lesser value due to lack of sensitivity, especially to the past,” he continued.

Where We Once Trod Installation

“The message of the works presented in this exhibition is clear, in times of uncertainty and high volatility we are living in, let us consider the wider landscape, be sensitive and have respect for context,” Nick elaborated. “A simple decision today can forever alter the value of a place which took years to accrue, so let us put things in perspective and think beyond the ‘now’ we are living for.”

Inguanez is an architect by profession, but he’s always been passionate about the arts. Together with his curator Elyse Tonna, he created a dialogue between architecture and today’s life based on Virilio’s book Aesthetic of Disappearance. These were in turn implemented on our country’s natural and urban aesthetic. They changed a political theme into an emotional one.

“I developed the concept of my exhibition primarily owing to my architectural and conservation background,” he said. “I felt Virilio’s work as a cultural theorist has a lot of parallels to the themes of time and memory I am addressing in my works. It’s a sensory overload examination of the condition which makes experience possible, uncovering the role of time in the accelerated perception of society today.”

Expectation 100X150Cm

Inguanez came up with this body of work from holding regular discussions with Elyse on the subject. His subject came through very naturally for the artist, where during site visits and sketching he stated to channel through his feelings.

“I started to depict the feelings and emotions that the place itself was almost trying to silently convey and sketches of architecture changed into human figures and nudes exerting strong bodily tensions and an underlying sensation of emotion,” Nick told Lovin Malta.

He developed his final works on canvas after further developing his sketches into a metaphorical representation of certain sites. “The work represented the metaphoric personification of particular sites, from ODZ land, to Kalanka Bay and White Rocks. All the work for this exhibition were prepared over a year of conceptual development and execution,” Inguanez said.

“I believe the beauty of art lies in its capability of reflecting back what a person values, has experienced or aspires to be. It’s like a mirror which shows you change depending on how much you are ready to open up and accept to see it.”

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Nick’s work is a sensible catastrophe of emotions. Each piece represents a strong emotion in one way or another.

Picnolepsy is my baby. I feel it captures the essence I wanted to portray in this exhibition and provides very relevant discourse as a product of today very well, the notion of zeitgeist and my current perception and outlook towards the environment around me,” Nick told Lovin Malta.

“It’s like a dream, an overdose of drama and emotion that exists between stillness and transformation, history and the present, and the realm of the virtual and the real,” he concluded

Picnolepsy 100X150Cm

Curated by Elyse Tonna, this exhibition can be viewed at Palazzo de la Salle in Valletta. It’s open on Mondays from 8am till 5pm, Tuesdays to Fridays from 8am till noon, and from 3pm till 6pm.

What do you think of Nick’s work? Leave us a comment below and tag someone who’d love to check out this exhibition!

READ NEXT: This Maltese Artist’s Perfectly Geometric Illustrations Will Have You Running To A Tattoo Parlour ASAP

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