Life & Passion revisited
6th Dec 2024 – 21st Dec 2024
8th Jan 2025 – 8th Mar 2025
A solo exhibition by Caesar Attard
Curated by Norbert Francis Attard
Detail from a work by Caesar Attard & Exhibition poster of Life & Passion revisited
LIFE & PASSION revisited
A solo exhibition by Caesar Attard
Curated by Norbert Francis Attard
A Note by the Artist
“The idea for this exhibition grew out of an unfinished project that originated in 1985 when I found myself embarking on a series of drawings with a religious theme. The drawings became the source of two sets of etchings the first of which was printed in 1992 when both drawings and etchings were shown in the Exhibition “Life And Passion” at The New Gallery, National Museum, Valletta. The second set sat on a shelf until now. By 1996, when I printed the second set, I felt reluctant to share what I then, and more strongly now, consider to belong to a past I could only face if wrestled with and even challenged technically, thematically and iconographically. In the 90’s there was no social media to talk about. By the turn of the millennium instead of walking we skateboarded while our brains melted on questions of belief, interpretation and contemporaneity. So, now that those works seem to beckon from the past to be retrieved, I decided to expose them to the digital age and to consider the consequences.” C.A.
Portrait of Caesar Attard by Kayley Scerri
Caesar Attard (b. 1946) is a Maltese artist. He studied at the Malta School of Art 1966-1973 and since 1969 remained consistently active in the local art scene participating in exhibitions in Malta and abroad and as member of influential local art groups Vision '74, and Atelier '56. Attard was teacher of Art from 1970 to 1995 and lecturer in Visual Art practice and History of Art at the Junior College of the University of Malta until 2011.
Besides drawing and painting of which he had various solo exhibitions, Attard, since the 70’s, experimented in non-traditional art-forms such as participatory art and installations. The following is a selection: “Human Pantographers - a cybernetic experience” in the De la Salle College Language Laboratory, Cottonera, 1977; the installation “Open-Ended Meta-dimensional Field-100 Free-standing Units” and a participatory performance called “The Artist as Model” in St. George Square, Valletta, in 1977; a performance called “The Identity Card” at AZAD event, Floriana, in 1978. Attard presented a multi-media project called "Graphicon: Icons of memory, Images of Observation, Icons of Manipulation” in 2000 at the Centre for the Creative Arts, Valletta, and the installation “Searching for Caravaggio” in Great Siege Square, Valletta, 2007. More recent works are the sculptures “Tonguesgate” shown in group show “MilkShake” in 2013, “In Memory of Our Luminaries” exhibited in “The Island Indoors” at Hof De Bist-252CC, Antwerp, in 2018, and the participatory art event and installation “B/s/b” at “Human Matter”, M.S.A, Valletta, 2017. He also contributed works to Matthew Attard’s exhibition “rajt ma rajtx – naf li rajt” at Valletta Contemporary, Valletta, in 2021.
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Acknowledgements: Matthew Attard, Niki Young, Norbert Francis Attard, Intervisions, Francois Zammit, Francesca Longo, Michaele Zammit, Meltem Ezer, Francesca Zammit, Maria Eileen Fsadni