Step by StepJohn Vic Borg

E. V. Borg

Step by StepJohn Vic Borg

E. V. Borg

Step by StepA Journey in Life

John Vic Borg

‘Step by Step’ is a journey through space and time ascending on steps that lead to change and growth through experience. Focused on light and shadow its sister, John is obsessed by the theme or perhaps has a contagious fixation or tryst while researching a contrast of light and shade, of light and shadow, of light and darkness. John loves light falling on stone, rock and boulders, on carved stone by expert ‘scarpellini’, on grass, plants, shrubs and trees and

expresses his feelings and emotions in a neo-realist and almost surreal concept of life as interpreted by an acute imagination, sensual fantasy and a sharp linear definition as an engraving on copper.John is obsessed by light falling on boulders, on rocks: a vibrant, blazing and at times blinding light, a saturated, strong or mitigated one but keen on its sensitive nuances that his trained sensible nature captures to create an

20Bastion Steps40x50cm

acute sense of actuality, a surreal reality, a mood that could be magical, mysterious, enigmatic or mundane according to choice.The artist loves shade and shadow especially strong deep shadow that seems stygian black but in reality is dark Prussian blue as in ‘Bastion Steps’ (20). This sensual shadow is strikingly present in ‘Heavenly Presence’ (2013) with shafts or rays of light penetrating the shadows under tall beech trees and in ‘Olive

26Heavenly Presence

60x90cm

Trees’ (2014), a grove of old gnarled and distorted trees. The mood is poetic!‘Step by Step’ is a collection of meticulously clean works, almost clinical in concept that reveals the artist’s research and study about the subject though the theme is hardly the

main aim or scope. It serves only as a means to an end: an urge to create through an intensive concentrated effort a bid to surpass, outshine and overwhelm himself.

27Olive Trees

120x60cm

In ‘Hidden Passage’ (04) he bewilders the viewer with a study of boulders and rock, with light that caresses and tickles the stone, chiselling it into shape and form, rounded and solid and animating it with spirit, with a soul. In a bid to deceive the eye he creates an optical illusion of space using both linear and tonal perspective in depicting a few rough steps that end against an impenetrable rock face as quite usual in actual life How many times man faces unsurmountable problems, a blank

wall? The grass in the foreground with light transforming the green blades into yellow, the dark blue shadow, hanging thick leaves in the left top corner elevate this work into a museum piece. The bone dry rock is in contrast to the lush, damp grass and deep moist shadow. If in other works especially those depicting the ruined Opera House the artist achieves a sense of technical bravura and virtuosity in ‘Hidden Passage’ he obtains a sense of creative achievement.

04Hidden Passage60x70cm

09One Step at a Time

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‘Step by Step’ (08) and ‘One Step at a Time’ (09) are lyrical and poetic in their acute realism and natural dispersion of brown dry leaves that are symbolic of changing season, of life trickling away. The acute simplicity of the compositions and the humble choice of subject contribute to the excellence of both works. The eroded step in ‘One Step at a Time’ rounded smooth by constant friction underlines the futility of life, that physical matter wears away and with time is distilled into pure energy.

08Step by Step

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03Mind Your Step60x70cm

In ‘Mind your Step’ (03) the artist achieves a magical and mysterious quality with an overwhelming, trembling, shivering, vibrating, oscillating and dancing light that plays and gambols, that rises and falls like a waterfall continuously, uninterruptedly, endlessly. It is possibly the most magical work in the collection as the viewer feels the sun’s position changing and accordingly light and shadow.

‘Monumental Steps’ (15), one of a series depicting the sad ruins of the Opera House in Valletta, is outstanding in its plasticity, in the crisp and fresh rendering of carving in white granite. The sculptural decoration is a gigantic console deceptively buttressing a vermiculated wall flanking a kind of ‘scala regia’ – a flight of steps. What loving detail in the lush acanthus leaf, in a thick and sensual Roman garland or

15MonumentalStairs60x70cm

in a dado and base of a column in ‘Left in Ruins’ (14) and the desolate stump of a column with the delicate moulding of a door jamb behind it in ‘Left in Ruins 2’ (02). It is a nostalgic expression of a local treasure that our people might never savour again.

16Left in Ruins II50x70cm

14Left in Ruins

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19Bridge Stairs

45x50cmImpossible to ignore completely the irregular geometric dark shadow cast by wrought iron railings in ‘Bastion Steps’ (20) and in ‘Bridge Stairs’ (19) close to Victoria Gate for its documentary allusion to our industrial history during British Malta.

01Man’s First Steps70x50cm

Quite outstanding is ‘Man’s first Step’ (01) at Ta’ Ħaġrat in Mġarr with such eloquent monumental monoliths that speak volumes about our prehistoric predecessors and their artistic acumen. Impossible to ignore ‘Eroded by Time’ (02) in its simplicity, in its contrast and comparison of a constructed wall on bare cut rock

02Eroded by time

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The collection is about the journey in life, about steps, steps that reach upwards, that we take one at a time during our life – cautiously, prudently, carefully quenching our thirst on first-hand experience that spells change and

growth and perhaps are the ‘Gateway to Heaven’ (07) fumbling in a dark ominous tunnel with a beckoning transcendental light at the end: our yearning for the infinite and the eternal.

E. V. Borg

07Gateway to

Heaven60x70cm

21Stairs for Thought60x70cm

John with a sensitive eye for delicate nuances of light was born in Mellieħa, Malta in 1971. At the age of 9 months he was taken to Australia by his parents. Ever since he started walking he was always found with pencil and paper in hand drawing whatever came to mind. When his parents returned to Malta, he found it very hard to adjust at first but fortunately he always found time to escape to another world through drawing. Such talent would help him spend every free moment sketching bringing his imagination to life. It was during these years at school that his primary teacher Alfred Vella encouraged him to take art seriously and arranged for John to start attending private lessons with the Mosta artist Doris Fenech. At the age of 10 he used oil paint on canvas for the first time and quickly fell in love with the medium and has not stopped using it since then. Oil paint gives him a feeling of

freedom to blend colours as he pleases as they remain crisp, sharp and vibrant without losing their texture. No matter how many years roll by a well-kept painting will still look fresh as if it has just left the artist’s hands. In 1983 he returned to Australia with his parents where he furthered his art studies guided by several artists till he turned 18 and decided to come back to his birthplace: Mellieha. Since his return to Malta he has participated in a number of collective and solo exhibitions. In a particular collective exhibition organized by the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta to celebrate its 150th Anniversary (2002) his painting was chosen among a large number of works by other established artists and shown at the Malta Museum of Fine Arts. A number of his paintings was acquired by private collectors in several countries and are found in collections in Australia, England, Germany, Romania, Cyprus, Morocco, Dubai, Ireland, Italy, Malta and the Vatican. John actually lives in Mellieha with his family where he enjoys days in plein air in the countryside painting a beautiful array of colour tonalities that the Maltese landscape offers. In the last 5 years he started painting with chocolate that as a medium is quite a challenge and quite different from painting in oil.

BIO: John Vic Borg

Publisher: John Vic Borg - MaltaTitle: Step by StepSub-title: John Vic BorgEvent: Personal Exhibition of LandscapesVenue: Sagrestia Vaults, Valletta Waterfront, MaltaDesign & Layout: E. V. Borg & Mary AttardAuthor & Curator: E. V. BorgImages: John Vic BorgArchival Images: John Vic BorgPrinted & Bound: A & M Printing, Qala, Gozo First published: 2015

Printed in Gozo, MaltaCopyright © Text: E. V. Borg; Images: John Vic Borg

Permission may be sought directly from John Vic Borg Address: 247, L-Għabex, Triq il-Fortizza, Mellieħa, MLH1511 , MALTA Email: john@jvborg.com Website: www.jvborg.com Mob: +356 99877862; +356 79475858Tel: +356 21572910Facebook: paintings by John Vic Borg

Library Cataloguing in publication Data(1) John Vic Borg (2) Step by Step(3) Art: Painting(4) Personal Exhibition of LandscapesAcknowledgements:H.E. Mary Louise Coleiro PrecaParliamentary Secretary Dr Jose HerreraMr E.V. BorgDr Vince Micallef Mr Stephen Xuereb CEO Valletta Cruise TerminalMr Charlon GouderMr Andrew FarrugiaMr David FarrugiaMr Michael VellaArtist’s wife Ruth and children Bradley and Jade for the help and patienceFront cover: No 4, Hidden PassageTitle page: No 15, Monumental StairsBack cover: No 22, Guarded by the Lion

BIO: E. V. BorgAuthor & Curator

E. V. Borg was born in Mdina in 1945 and studied drawing under the drawing master Karmenu Tonna (1910-73) (father of the late Rev. Fr. Benjamin Tonna, parish priest at St. Paul’s parish church Rabat) during his elementary schooling at Rabat (1952-56). He studied art at the Lyceum, Hamrun, under George Borg (1909-83) in 1957-58 and under Esprit Barthet (1919-99) between 1958 and 1962. He considers Esprit Barthet his mentor and friend. He studied art under Karmenu Mangion (1905-97) at St. Michael’s Teachers’ Training College – SMTTC (1963-1965). He studied Economics and History of Economics at MCAST (1966-68) and History at the University, Malta (1977-82). Prof. Godfrey Wettinger was his teacher and tutor at the Lyceum, Ħamrun and at the University Malta for several years. He started teaching in 1962 and after 42 years in the Education Department he retired at the age of 60 in 2005 as a coordinator of ‘Systems’. He has written more than 2000 critical essays about art and curated hundreds of exhibitions even abroad. He is author to a number of publications that include: Malta Watercolours – Giuseppe Cassar (1992); George Scicluna – Paintings (2011); So: come sono, e come sarò – Luciano Schifano (2012); Human Warmth – Agostino Baldacchino (2014); Art Discussion Group Anniversary – 1987-2014 (2015); Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition (2015) and various monographs and catalogues on art and artists particularly art evaluation and criticism. He is known locally as an educator, author, critic and curator.

Sagrestia VaultValletta Waterfront

18th – 31st July 2015In aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund