David Camilleri Kleine Art Exhibition Catalogue

Beneath the SoulDavid Camilleri Kleine

E. V. Borg

Beneath the SoulDavid Camilleri Kleine

E. V. Borg

Beneath the SoulDavid Camilleri Kleine

It is a firework display of Catherine wheels super imposed, juxtaposed, overlapping one above the other of what seems a ceaseless rotation and revolving of geometric circular shapes, arcs and curves in dynamic movement under powerful momentum, softly exploding without imploding. Line and outline are defined but colour is diffused though emphatic and dark at times. ‘Beneath the Soul’ is a large collection of possibilities on a theme that researches the fundamentals of Modern Art during the first decades of the 20th century. According to the artist the word ‘beneath’ in the title refers to the technique used as the various cut-outs are super imposed through meticulous layers of transparent glazes to achieve a three dimensional field.

The artist with E V Borg

Kandinsky is one of David’s favourite painters

The initial source of inspiration is Les Fauves, the ‘Wild beasts’ of French Expressionism led by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) with their vibrant and vivid colours and particularly to Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Paul Klee (1979-1940) with more than a tryst with the Neo-Plasticism of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), a geometrical abstraction, an aesthetic expounded in the periodical De Stijl. David is also influenced by the Supermatism of Kasimir Malewitsch (1878-1935) an idiom made up of geometric

architectural forms and bright unbroken colour with an eye on French Cubism. The artist owes a lot to Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) especially to their contribution to Synthetic Cubism and their application of Collage. David has intimate links with collage as he often visited the shop floor of leather firms specialized in the production of footwear and through practical experience over a period of 36 years he was impressed with the left-overs and cut-outs that fired his fantasy and imagination.

The artist with a selection of his ‘Crupuni’ series of paintings

The artist’s bottega

Franz Marc (1880-1916) whose powerful blue and red horse compositions made up of arcs of circles must have impressed the artist deeply as such animist works gave David the strength to animate his abstract with so much dynamic power and strength. Esprit Barthet (1919-1999) used to refer to such optical movement as static kinetic. Yet David is surely indebted profoundly to Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) influenced by the Fauves, Cubists and the German Expressionists and who before the First World War evolved Orphism, a form of ‘colour circles’ – a colour and light architecture out of prismatic colours (1) that Barthet achieved in his compositions of ‘roof tops’. In this context it is impossible to omit the importance of Fernand Leger (1881-1955), a mural artist whose art is dominated by geometric motifs, architecture and bold primary colours.Yet a lasting influence on David’s art is that of the Italian Furturists: Giacomo Ballà (1871-1958), Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), Carlo Carrà (1881-1966), and Gino Severini (1883-1966). He studied these artists and emulated and achieved their sense of optical illusion of powerful and dynamic movement. It is vital to refer to Boccioni’s sculpture in wax of 1913: ‘Unique Forms of Continuity in Space’ cast in bronze in 1931 and exhibited in Malta at the Grandmaster’s Palace, Valletta (1977) in a rare exhibition of Italian sculpture in bronze. It is vital that the Futurists considered sculpture as well, as David has an attraction for sculpture and studied the subject under Jason Lou

Franz Marc (1880-1916)

Tower of Blue Horse

Franz Marc (1880-1916) with a blue and red horses composition

Umberto Boccioni’s

bronze sculpture:

‘Unique forms of

continuity in Space’ exhibited

in Malta in 1977

(b.1976) a Chinese artist popular with the Maltese. There is a clear interconnection between the artists and groups of artists, styles that have influenced the artist and his prismatic colours vibrate with intensity.David’s work is geometric, three dimensional, sculptural, constructive and architectural and imbued with an illusion of movement: circular, rotating and revolving: dynamic and powerful. He creates order from chaos and transforms disorder into order. His works are very poetic and lyrical as they are inspired by the ‘music of the spheres’ an idea originated by the Greeks who believed that each planet turning on its orbit produces a musical note that all together produce harmony: their idea of the mathematical perfection of the universe. Naturally geometry plays a vital role in this vision.

In the late 1950’s David Camilleri Kleine attended drawing classes for a few years at the local School of Art in Valletta under the guidance of George Borg (1906-83), the sculptor of academic discipline and perfection. After many years he again could not

The artist with one of his ‘Sejjieħ’ series of paintings

Multiple Spirals No 25

resist the temptation to paint figurative landscapes with particular reference to streetscapes of Mdina our ancient capital. Gradually he adapted to a more abstract idiom until he focused on an austere geometric abstract style or expression. In due course he studied the oil and acrylic technique under the able guidance of Matthew Cassar (b.1946) of Rabat. Then he tried his hand at sculpture with Jason V. Lu and a course in drawing and painting at the Local School of Art under the guidance of Joseph Casha (1939-2011), principal of the School at the time. His inclination to graphics and geometry grew and spurred on his enthusiasm to draw and draw even on a cruise.As the years rolled by David thickened his paint and evolved a thick impasto using all imaginable media and material including gesso, sand, white glue, hard metal with hardener and finally coloured plastic melted with applied heat. This sculptural quality is a result of his obsession with a three dimensional quality. ‘While my works are abstract I feel that geometry and a Cubist vision are combined in my dialectic’.The longest TV programme about his work was produced for TVM by Manuel Cassar in ‘Wirt, Arti u Kultura’. David has taken part in various collective exhibitions organized by the Malta Society of Arts. In 2012 he obtained an honorable mention for his ‘Multiple Spirals No 25’ presented in one of the Malta Society of Arts open exhibitions and in 2007 he presented two works in a collective at Cleland and Souchet in St. Julians. Actually he is working on

a new collection, as usual possibilities on a theme inspired by the ‘ħitan tas-sejjieħ’ or local rubble walls that follow the contour of the land in our countryside. The studio or ‘bottega’ is crammed to capacity with his work that represents about 8 phases already framed and ready for exhibition These are based on possibilities on a theme and vary from half a dozen to 12 pieces each. There is order in the disorder as everything is stacked on shelves. The apparent chaos is quite surprising and aesthetically beautiful.David is an ambitious and resourceful entrepreneur, a hard working and industrious manager but a very particular and individual artist. He fondly points out that he is self-taught but his studies in formal courses and classes demonstrate his determination to learn, consolidate, interpret and create. He has a special and rare artistic talent.

(1) Jaffé, Dr. H.L.C.: Twentieth Century Painting, The Contact History of Art, Contact Books, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1967, p15

E. V. Borg

01 In the Beginning

70x90cm

CATALOGUE

02Serenity70x70cm

03Bay Leaves I

80x80cm

04Bay Leaves II80x80cm

05Space

65x80cm

06Bay Leaves III90x90cm

07The Four Evangelists I

80x80cm

08Illusion80x80cm

09Inferno

70x70cm

10Tik tok60x80cm

11Sistina

60x80cm

12Beyond the Sea I60x80cm

13Paradise I

70x70cm

14Paradise II70x70cm

15Snakes I70x70cm

16Shipwreck I60x60cm

17Shipwreck II

60x70cm

18Shadows60x70cm

19Lightning Maze

70x70cm

20The Four Evangelists II60x70cm

21Sistina II60x70cm

22Diptych I80x120cm

23Reflection I

70x80cm

24Fireworks I80x80cm

25Multiple Spirals

70x80cm

26Hilly60x80cm

27Reflection II

60x70cm

28Reflection III70x90cm

29Reflection IV

70x70cm

30Comforting60x60cm

31Fireworks IV

60x80cm

32Dyptich II60x98cm

33Follow-Up

70x92cm

34Sistina III70x70cm

35Beyond the Sea II

60x80cm

36Snorkelling60x60cm

37Bay Leaves I V

80x80cm

38Honeycomb Spirals at Hypogeum60x80cm

39Snakes II 70x80cm

40Mnajdra60x60cm

41Hagar Qim

60x60cm

42Hey George80x80cm

43Hey Pablo

70x70cm

44Mare Blu70x70cm

45Crupuni80x80cm

Note: All works were painted between 2011 and 2015 in acrylic; no 45 and no 46 belong to another phase entitled according to the subject that inspired the master

46Sejjieħ I77x77cm

David Camilleri Kleine born in 1945 is at 70 brimming with enthusiasm, full of energy, dedication, deep involvement, focused and highly inventive. His application and hard work surface in the various media that he exploits and researches to obtain impasto, texture and glazes. He started sketching in his school days at Stella Maris College (1952-1961) at a very young age and later in the late 1950’s (1958-60) he studied drawing under George Borg (1906-83), a vital skill that served him well in later years. At the School of Art he remembers Esprit Barthet (1919-99) who was already 40 at the time. Lino Bonello, a classmate had encouraged David to draw and sketch and such attention stimulated the young artist to study and research and to work hard at the easel. He also studied the oil and acrylic technique for two years under the able guidance of Matthew Cassar (b.1946) of Rabat. Then he tried his hand at modelling in clay and casting with Jason V. Lu (b.1976) and again took a course in drawing and painting at the local School of Art under the guidance of Joseph Casha (1939-

2011). His inclination to graphics and geometry and to sets and rules grew and stimulated his enthusiasm to paint in a Cubist style. David thickened his paint and keen on a dry brush technique evolved a thick impasto using various media and material including gesso, sand, white glue, hard metal with hardener and coloured plastic melted with applied heat. His endeavor towards a three dimensional quality on a flat surface necessitated an optical illusion of low relief, of a sculptural quality. This resulted in an obsession with sculpture and the series of ‘rubble walls’ (ħitan tas-sejjieħ). David has taken part in several collective exhibitions especially at the Malta Society of Arts and at Cleland and Souchet in St. Julians. Actually he is organizing his first personal exhibition, a collection of abstract works at Cavalieri Art Hotel in St. Julians (23 July – 11th August 2015). His long experience as a manager and co-director of the three branches of Benefit Shoestore (1966-2008), his practical hands-on involvement with the shop-floor of leather goods firms and the lasting impression of cut-offs and cut-outs of the material left over lying about fired his imagination for collage. The entrepreneur manages and directs Chinahouse Restaurant (2008-15). In his spare time his talent as a cook is much appreciated by family and friends. His responsibility as head of a family and his talents in different fields demonstrate that creativity is vital and precious in life.

BIO: David Camilleri Kleine

BIO: E. V. BorgAuthor & Curator

E. V. Borg was born in Mdina in 1945 and studied drawing under the drawing master Karmenu Tonna (1910-73) (father of the late Rev. Fr. Benjamin Tonna, parish priest at St. Paul’s parish church Rabat) during his elementary schooling at Rabat (1952-56). He studied art at the Lyceum, Hamrun, under George Borg (1909-83) in 1957-58 and under Esprit Barthet (1919-99) between 1958 and 1962. He considers Esprit Barthet his mentor and friend. He studied art under Karmenu Mangion (1905-97) at St. Michael’s Teachers’ Training College – SMTTC (1963-1965). He studied Economics and History of Economics at MCAST (1966-68) and History at the University, Malta (1977-82). Prof. Godfrey Wettinger was his teacher and tutor at the Lyceum, Ħamrun and at the University Malta for several years. He started teaching in 1962 and after 42 years in the Education Department he retired at the age of 60 in 2005 as a coordinator of ‘Systems’. He has written more than 2000 critical essays about art and curated hundreds of exhibitions even abroad. He is author to a number of publications that include: Malta Watercolours – Giuseppe Cassar (1992); George Scicluna – Paintings (2011); So: come sono, e come sarò – Luciano Schifano (2012); Human Warmth – Agostino Baldacchino 92014); Art Discussion Group Anniversary – 1987-2014 (2015); Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition (2015) and various monographs and catalogues on art and artists particularly art evaluation and criticism. He is known locally as an educator, author, critic and curator.

Publisher: David Camilleri Kleine - MaltaTitle: Beneath the SoulSub-title: David Camilleri KleineEvent: Personal Exhibition of Abstract WorkVenue: Cavalieri Art Hotel, St. Julians, MaltaDesign & Layout: E. V. Borg & Mary AttardAuthor & Curator: E. V. BorgImages: Custom LabStudio Images: Mary AttardArchival Images: David Camilleri KleinePrinted & Bound: Best Print Co. Ltd., Qrendi, MaltaISBN: 978-99957-0-834-4First published: 2015

All rights reserved in all countriesPrinted & Bound in MaltaCopyright © Text: E. V. Borg; Images: David Camilleri Kleine

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Permission may be sought directly from David Camilleri Kleine

Address: Louisa, V. Bugeja Street Iklin, Malta Email: [email protected] Mobile Nos: +359 99425860; +359 99457517

Library Cataloguing in publication Data (1) David Camilleri Kleine (2) Beneath the Soul (3) Art: Painting (4) Personal Exhibition of Abstract Works

Acknowledgements: Cavalieri Art Hotel Marsovin Art Discussion Group Best Print Co. Ltd. Custom Lab China House DecoNo responsibility is assumed by the publisher from any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained.

Cavalieri Art Hotel, St JuliansPublic viewing: 23rd July - 11th August 2015