| Obsess - to preoccupy completely; haunt. Collins English Dictionary A Diary of Obsessions There must be a moment when an experience ceases to be just a piece of memory and crosses over to become an obsession. It starts to re-appear in one�s notes as if it where some fresh idea, only to reveal itself as a repetition of the same concept, thinly desguised and earnestly demanding your attention from your harresed and ignored subconcious. I had toyed with the idea of creating a body of paintings just as one keeps a Diary. One painting a week. But such regimes are not becoming of a modern lifestyle. Instead I decided to let the flow of ideas take their natural time, remaining faithful to their free ranging variety. Many where old buried ideas which longed to resurface. Eventually this became my �Diary of obsessions�. I began to doubt the effectiveness of working in series. I began to feel it as a limitation. The �Diary� was to be open to all directions. This openness was to be the series. I began to realise that the ideas where related in anycase but the freedom to wonder gave them an accelerated development from one to the other. A wider paremitar of variation is permitted in the interpretaion and matierials. Each work should be a chance at experiment, but within the constraints of oilpaint and canvas. Elizworth Kelly�s cut shaped canvas inspired me to test my carpentry skills and include the shape of the canvas (or canvases) in the expression. The months of the year, calendars, ciclic events all facinate me. The passing of time, aging of things and ourselves,and inevitably death as the logical end of matierial life. References to local history, bastoins, war, struggle, come back to me from a childhood full of exposure to this. The green movement, carbon feul, the possible self distruction of the planet by "eating ourselves" to death., this is a new obsession which seems here to stay. Life is a combination of varied inputs, past present future fears and hopes combine in a "multi-screen" internet media driven personality. We all Obsess today, it has become a way of life. Art can give this "type" of person a visual expression and therefore identity. Two eye-catching pieces on show belong to John Busuttil Leaver, an artist whose potential often comes up with unconventional themes. E. Fiorentio The Sunday Times, Dec 18, 2005 �He is philosophical about his work and sees what he does as non-commercial: a statement about the contemporary and its preservation for posterity.� Nicholas de Piro, Artists who painted Malta, 2002 CV John Busuttil k/a Leaver (www.geocities.com/jbleaver) was born on the 26/10/64 and is a graphic designer and a visual artist whose first one-man show was held in 1988. He since has had six more one-man shows including one at the National Museum of Fine Arts. He has participated in over 50 collective exhibitions. His work includes drawing, oil painting, modelling and mixed media. He is mentioned in De Piro�s �Artists who painted Malta� (both editions), and by art critics, E. Fiorentino and Dominic Cutajar. He won a world wide third prize in the IFSTS International Poster Award, Spain 1985, and first prize for painting in the 1995 Teacher's Whiskey Art Awards as well as the logo design competition of �Dancepower� (Dance Council of Malta) in 2000. His work has featured on TV and Radio programmes including: �Kuluri�, on Radju tal-Mediterranean (1997, 1999); �Min hu l�Artist Malti?� Super 1 (1999); �Meander� on PBS (1997, 1999, 2002); and a Canadian TV Cultural Programme �TV FRAMES� during a feature on Malta, (1999). His work reflects a romantic nature, conflicting with the contradictions of living in the 21st century. The experience of nature, the classic idea of woman and colour are recurring themes but these are influenced by other themes such as overcrowding, excessive building, and loss of religious/community values. He also juggles with the dualism of history and realism on one hand and contemporary expressionism on the other. Can art afford to be totally abstract and �spiritual� at a time of total immersion in realism seen daily on TV and electronic media? Does it not risk seeming irrelevant and repetitive and reduced to a sort of craftsman patternmaking? His effort searches for a middle way. He is currently exploring the complexities and scope of 3 dimensional painting. |