The artist behind Joseph Muscat’s portrait in Castille, Patrick Dalli, currently has an exhibition going on in Mqabba.

The exhibition, titled ‘Din hi li hi’, which translates to ‘it is what it is’, can be found at Mqabba’s exhibition space, ‘Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq’.

“Nothing distracts from the main subject, that is the human figure. It is what it is,” the artist said. 

In this exhibition, Dalli is presenting his real self, his love, and his passion for the nude painting and the human figure, in a series of works that explore the matter.

The exhibition is proposing a selection of drawings that portray the freshness and crispness of his style – from drawings and ‘primi pensieri’ to beautifully finished works – all executed during sittings with models.

The featured work is all about the human figure, the austere use of the line, the spontaneity, the rapid strokes, and the shrewdly applied dabs of paint.

As with Dalli’s large-scale nudes, there is no sexual tension present, and these drawings illustrate his creative process.

The majority of the artworks forming this intimate exhibition are executed in charcoal, ink, and watercolour along with a few works using oil on canvas.

These works hint at Dalli’s more known large-scale nudes, where the painterly work takes over and the works are deprived of any props.

Patrick Dalli is known for various works found within Castille, from Joseph Muscat’s portrait to Eddie Fenech Adami’s. His work was recently a hot topic of discussion as Muscat’s portrait in Castille was never publicly revealed.

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