“I paint a life that has now disappeared. Technology has obliterated life as I remember it, those my age knows well what I mean. Entire days spent playing in the streets. No cars to worry about in our neighbourhood back then. Valletta, (and the entire planet!) where I grew up and still live has changed. Change must be, time moves on, no worries there. But once my generation passes on, there’ll be no one to tell our stories.”
My greatest influence and critic came from my dad, he wasn’t artist, but he knew how to push me on. “You can do much better than this, much better.” He would tell me. Sometimes his words made me angry, thinking I was very good. Really? After he passed away when I was 16 years of age, life became hard as I had to leave school to support my mom and two younger brothers. Painting never took a backseat to work, never. I would paint whenever I could, even entire nights. It made no difference, just as long as I painted.
Finally, my aim isn’t to wow the viewer with my technique or anything like that. My aim is to make you stop and forget life for a few seconds and transport you to a world where everything was simpler, less hectic, and enjoyable.
