G R A P H IC S

Originally I was induced to graphics more by coincidence than choice. Various friends commissioned me to produce posters and later book covers. Eventually, I became more and more involved in several graphical activities. I confess I enjoyed seeing my work being reproduced since the printed artwork remained and gained a certain permanence, while my other work, once sold was gone forever. Initially, my work had no particular identity but as my painting in the studio evolved, the graphical illustrations reproduced what was taking place in my studio at that particular period. It was a form of documentation, independent of the commission.

My role was never that of a graphic artist but that of a painter. My concern was to make use of the experiences gained through a constant search and experimentation which became my sole reference when I executed graphical commissions. Most often this exercise worked well. For instance, the 1984 Olympic stamps reproduce a type of painting which show my attempts to dissolve the subject into the background to turn it into an abstract. The same was happening in my studio then. The Unesco Poster reflects the period when I started making use of semi-transparent thorn paper as a collage together with coloured inks. The poster for the Manoel theatre also has the same trait as the thorn paper. This led to the series of paintings called ‘Paperworks’ executed in 1991 during my artist-in-residency in the United States. The 2000 calendar for Airmalta also depicts the beginning of a series of paintings which lead to Stone Memories.