Antonella Grima

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First August 21 2005

Beyond

Antonella Grima speaks about her art and her current exhibition

I have always considered art as being an intrinsic part of my nature, as essential as the air that I breathe. This year I decided to finally celebrate this passion of mine with an exhibition featuring my paintings – my statement to the world. I have procrastinated this for as long as I could but finally, due to a personal challenge and much coaxing by others, I have decided to let go of my treasured creations and expose them for all to scrutinize.

            The theme for this exhibition came about almost by chance. Whilst experimenting with ink washes, in search for inspiration, I created an image that reminded me of the calm and serenity of the summer skies at night. I was immediately intrigued by this concept and started developing the subject, searching into the heavens and galaxies, looking up at the skies with different eyes, the final result, one year later being a collection of 25 paintings with the title ‘Beyond’.

            Featuring in these paintings, one finds scenes reminiscent of remote galaxies, mesmerising eclipses, rings of Saturn, heavenly bodies, all wrapped in a dream – like air of serenity and mystique. The colours of ‘Beyond’ are dark shades of blue and black, contrasting with luminous white – evoking a feeling of depth and distance, transmitting serenity and calm.

            ‘Beyond’ represents for me a sense of transition, of looking beyond the present and into the future, with a sense of wonder at what it may bring. These paintings also represent a personal reflection about matters beyond our mundane surroundings – spirituality, life, nature, meditation. With this collection, I invite the viewer to embark on a personal journey, even if for a brief instant, and look introspectively, in search for one’s personal thoughts or inspirations. Although each painting represents a particular aspect of our universe, I chose not to entitle the individual pieces, thus allowing the viewer to form his or her own interpretation, his or her own reflection.

            Although ‘Beyond’ represents a particular inspiration and state of mind, it is not my usual genre of painting and deviates to a great extent from my habitual inspirations. It represents a year of my life draped by the uncertainty of sitting for the final examinations at university, not knowing what the future may hold. Now that this has passed and I am getting accustomed to my new life and routine, I look back at the paintings and can tangibly observe my thoughts in this period on paper. I am uncertain now about which path my painting will take, what my inspirations will be, but I am positive that art will accompany my journey and be, as always, an integral part of my essence.

Note: Antonella Grima’s current exhibition ‘Beyond’ may be viewed at the Heritage Malta Head Office, Merchants Street, Valletta. The exhibition is open to the public from Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 4pm until the 9^th September.

The main sponsors of the event are Heritage Malta, Bank of Valletta, Attard $ Co. and Jesper’s Danish Bakery.

·        Antonella Grima is a medical doctor

 graphic version