Fringes in focus : a deep reflection on urban life

Abstract

Silvio John Camilleri is holding his fourth solo exhibition at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat. The artist’s new series follows on from previous work showcasing his fascination with urban environments as evidenced by the dominant flyover motif. However, this collection accords more focus to the dynamic interplay between human life and the urban context. Camilleri aims to draw attention to how urban life can – in his own words – “alienate and dehumanise us”. This series comprises 28 works, most of which were created using acrylics, with the rest being painted on paper with ink and watercolours. Stylistically, the works are surrealist, fusing elements of reality and fantasy – hence the ‘dreamscapes’ in the exhibition title. This can be said to mirror today’s real-virtual, unmediated-mediated worlds, further lending itself to the contemporary currency of this show. The bold, rough brushstrokes in contrasting colours draw us in to the characters’ world and serve to accentuate the tensions of urban ennui and angst. The predominant backdrop in the paintings is constituted of flyovers and supporting columns. The artist envisages this backdrop as “a visual metaphor for the cold, impersonal nature of the urban lifestyle and its rigid customs”. From a sociopolitical viewpoint, the flyover motif doubles as a powerful emblem of the neoliberal urban context shaping human behaviour, and of Marc Augé’s conceptualisation of ‘non-places’. Non-places serve as passages for anonymous people and are alienating places in which no organic social life is possible. Another nod to non-places is the anonymity of most of the depicted faces, which the artist links to the fast-paced rhythm of contemporary life and to a lack of deep connectedness. Facial anonymity may thus serve to enhance the viewers’ experience of identifying with characters and inhabiting their spaces. The artist engages in a provocative study of how people are shaped by and respond to the contemporary context. Broadly speaking, the artist conceives of two sets of characters: those living in the mainstream, represented in six paintings depicting humanoids; and those living on the fringes of society, depicted in the other 22 paintings. The exhibits show how both sets are susceptible to psychological and social alienation.