Birgu Fest 2015

On the 10th of October, I went to Birgu fest where I took the opportunity to visit an exhibition held at Kazin tal-banda San Lawrenz. This was a very interesting experience as I was able to talk to two talented artists: Mr Benny Brimmer, a Maltese Artist, and Ms Vania Goshe, a foreign artist from Bulgaria who is currently living In Malta.

Brimmer's Work

The works of Brimmer are realistic paintings also using oil on canvas. In his work, he seems to be translating his thoughts and experiences into emotion-filled paintings. Caravaggio inspires this artist and he told me that he likes chiaroscuro. Despite his love for chiaroscuro, the artist likes to divert from one style to another from time to time. He believes that if an artist repeats the same style over and over his job would become boring. This artist also believes that there should be no time limit as the artist must not feel forced and be concentrated to produce a good work of art. In fact, he said that it would generally take him around two months to finish a piece of work. My two favourite works from his collection are “Wild Life” and “Lost in a World”.

In “Wild Life” the artist draws two horses running in a field. They split the canvas in half and are separating the fire on the left side from the water on the right. This picture is full of action and movement which can be seen from the position of the horses, the splash in the water and the waves, and the fire.

 “Lost in a World” shows an artist drawing. The artist has a palette and a brush in his hands and he attached a piece of cloth to his pants so he can wipe off the colour on his brush. Light hits the artist from the back. He is in a kind of void with a black background and what appears to be green and red smoke. This shows what the title suggests, that when and artist is painting he disconnects from the real world and is lost in his own world.

Goshe's Works

The works of Goshe were oil on canvas and she uses palette knives. In her works, Vania likes to capture and portray the beauty of nature by using bright colours. She told me that she wants her client to wake up in the morning, look at her painting and experience a sense of positive energy. Her work is abstract yet one can make out what the objects in the painting are. In fact, she calls her work abstract realism. “The Grand Harbour”, “Gardjola”, “Beautiful Malta”, “Senglea” and “Luzzu at Marsaxlokk” are all artworks that show Vania's technique of creating a unique sky, in that she meticulously blends the blue of the sky with light shades of pink, orange, red and yellow. What I also liked from Goshe's works are her flower paintings which are filled with very bright colours and she applies thick paint, which in my opinion really stands out. I really got inspired by Vania's work as I like to escape reality in my art too. In the future, I would like to do something like this.

Conclusion

This was a very rewarding experience as I enjoyed talking with the artists about their work and about art in general.