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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MAY 2024 2 ART Artist Gabriel Buttigieg examines the human through classical mythology in latest exhibition LAURA CALLEJA speaks to Gabriel Buttigieg on his most ambiguous exhibition to date, 'fabricATE,' where he uses classical mythology and lore to examine human nature This is your largest exhibi- tion to date. Can you talk us through the preparation for doing an exhibition on this scale? It's been surreal. Long before I staged 'Narratives for Post- modern Love' at the Splendid last December, I knew that the Spazju Kreattiv exhibition at the end of April would be one of the most prestigious in my life and I simply had to do it jus- tice. So as soon as I wrapped up 'Postmodern Love', I plunged into the preparations for fabri- cATE. I admit there were some moments during these past four months when I feared this huge challenge would end in failure. The process leading up to a new exhibition needs the development of a fresh idea. I needed to present something new both as regards concept and execution. There'd be no point to an exhibition if I don't take the viewer by surprise, if it lacked an element of risk or broke new ground. I was ter- rified that I might fall back on what I'd done before. Also, I felt compelled to do something dif- ferent from 'Postmodern Love'. My career so far has oscillated between, on the one hand, the raw, bold, uninhibited sensu- ousness and violence which disturbed quite a few people last December, and on the oth- er hand, a more harmonious, aesthetically sensitive, refined and nuanced approach. I go back and forth between these two modes. For fabricATE, I inhabit the second mode. It is a reaction to 'Postmodern Love' as well as a restless need for constant change and develop- ment. Anyway, to be concise, these have been four hellish months. I've worked morning, day and night, and from night till morning, but I did it in the end. What inspiration did you draw for this exhibition? The sources were various. I mined the darkest, most viscer- al tales in Classical mythology and lore and used them as vehi- cles for my view of human na- ture. I've always found mythol- ogy to be unequalled in the way it gives shape to passions and instincts that elude the reach of reason. For example, fathers devour their offspring; they are so terrified of being usurped by their own children that they cannibalise them. And those who threaten the power of the gods or frustrate their wishes are subjected to painful and humiliating metamorphoses or condemned to repeat an ac- tion for all eternity. Or think of the monstrous depictions of women like Circe, Lamia and Medea. They rejected the ex- pectation that women should be nurturers, good wives and mothers. Transgression and its price have always intrigued me. What do you hope to achieve through this exhibition? fabricATE is about how we have told these stories from mythology over and over again, how other painters and writers have revisited these stories and thrown light on different as- pects, each artist adding anoth- er layer, throwing light on an- other facet of the original story. And it is now my turn to pay tribute to those narratives and those artists before me. I want- ed layer over layer of colour and light overlie the ancient story to cover it and yet let it shimmer through. But beyond the paintings, this is my first multimedia exhibition. There are two large-scale sculptures, important protagonists who counterbalance the paintings. This is all enhanced with the soundscape, and the agitation and edginess it suggests is mir- rored in the video projection. A few years back, I realised I'm no longer interested in painting several works and just hanging them in any space that happens to be available. This is unfortunately a notion that persists in the minds of some artists and curators in Malta. On the contrary, I think all artworks should be a response to the space they are in. They should be created specifically for that space. Every element in an exhibition should be aligned with the overarching concept behind the exhibition. I be- lieve I achieved this with fab- ricATE. It includes contrasting elements, of course, but they too are deliberate and there for a purpose. Hats off to cu- rator Lisa Gwen who insisted on this holistic approach with all her heart and soul. In fact, I must thank her for the role she played in how this exhibition came to be. I must also thank the other talented and passion- ate people involved who added their own layers to fabricATE: "The sources were various. I mined the darkest, most visceral tales in Classical mytholog y and lore and used them as vehicles for my view of human nature."