Trees : a dialogue of texts and images

Abstract

This exhibition is a joint project, the result of two years of collaboration between a poet and a painter. Joe Friggieri wrote the poems which inspired Christine Kunkler' s paintings. They feature some of the trees of the Maltese Islands in their natural or historical settings and the different thoughts or feelings evoked by them. In some cases, the mood is cheerful and bright, in others meditative and subdued, but in all cases images and words are intimately related and seem to enter into some kind of dialogue between them. It is for this reason that poems and paintings can be seen as forming part of the same experience, verbally or visually expressed. The project is deeply and deliberately rooted in traditional styles and techniques and creates a stark contrast with contemporary artistic trends, offering viewers the opportunity to reflect on the very nature of art and the various forms it can take. Following the exhibition, a book by Christine Kunkler will throw light on some of the philosophical issues arising from the correspondence between images and texts. For the duration of the exhibition, parts of this reflection will be published on www.enigmatic-realism.com. A catalogue can never cover all the aspects of an exhibition. This particular publication, for instance, doesn't say that "The Flame Tree" is actually an activity-installation that has already been a huge success in Shanghai. Again, some of the material which was used in other artworks, such as aluminium foil, a mirror fragment, and other protruding elements, cannot be depicted adequately here. I hope to see some of these problems of preservation and adequate depiction solved in the very near future by Virtual Reality and resulting film productions by companies such as our newly established Maltese company HoloArtWorld. Trees are one of the marvels of nature and, at a time when the natural environment is being constantly eroded, visitors to this exhibition are being invited to admire the beauty of trees and do what they can to prevent their destruction. This was one of the aim poet and painter had in mind when they embarked on this joint venture. [Predace by Dr Stephan Kunkler]