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Gilbert Calleja talks to artist Patrick Fenech about his current exhibition
If you are in Valletta go up Merchantsí Street to the Auberge díItalie and you will be greeted by an explosion of bright abstract photos. These are the works of artist-photographer Patrick Fenech who is exhibiting his recent works under the title ëWaiting for Columbusí, an uncanny coincidence with the 100 birthday celebration of Samuel Beckett, author of ëWaiting for Godotí.
 Godot, the men who never turns up, the man who leaves us in expectation, in waiting and who is here replaced by Columbus, sailor of uncharted seas, the seeker, the awaited.
How did Fenech picture this waiting scene? How are we to recognise Columbus? Who is Columbus? What does he represent?
I go round the exhibition as I wait for Fenech talk to a friend who came to see this exhibition of photographic composites and found-objects recomposed into sculptural pieces with titles like ëResurrectioní, ëAnubis Melitensisí and ëStar Gazerí. I wait.
I wait and walk round the corridors brightened up by this collection of photo composites (when two or more photos are composed in a single work) of details or fragments from boat yards around Malta and Gozo.
The artist is clearly not only interested in the boatyards as a visually appealing amassment of sea-craft but also because of the culture, the beliefs, the life that these boats represent.
The works are linked by a rich ìMediterraneanî choice of palette: the warm reds, oranges, yellows contrasting with the cooler blues and greens of the water.
Fenech brings the lens close to his objects with a scientistís interest in the peeling layers of paint, the rotting wood, the textures, the water.
He walks up to me and among the mix of greetings and apologies we sit, make brief introductions and settle for the interview.
I ask about the origins of these works or rather the artistic passage which led to this exhibition. How did he get to ëWaiting for Columbusí?
ìI had done drawing and painting with Esprit Barthet at the Malta School of Arts but eventually I took-up photography. It was the sense of instantaneity of the medium that I think first attracted me to the medium. The camera also prompted me to observe more and document that which attracted my eye.
ìI started shooting different social situations, contrasting lifestyles in the Malta of the late 70s. I was interested in reportage photography inspired mostly by the anthropological research being done by Paul Sant Cassia and books like John Bergerís ëWays of seeingí and Susan Sontagís ëOn Photographyí.
In the meantime I got a scholarship and went to study Photography and Advertising in Italy and learned that if I wanted my art to interact with the public and vice-versa I had to work out a marketing, working strategy based on three principles - understanding, designing and communicating.
ìIn Italy I came to understand the necessity of learning the technique of a mediumÖ however, I am also aware that an artist can realise his project by seeking the assistance of skilled artisans to produce the work according to his ëvisioní,î Fenech says.
We discuss ëConceptual Artí for a while and the idea of giving a title to a work comes up.
ìI think itís necessary to give people something to cling to. My experience tells me that people find it hard to relate to an untitled work. Children have much less inhibitions and are incredibly creative with their free associations of images to ideas or objects in the real world.
ìIn a way the title communicates to the public what the artist wanted to sayÖ then itís up to the artist to make the best out of all available means to direct and manipulate the viewerís ideas.î
I point out that some of the titles refer to specific times like ìDay and Nightî or ìNoontime in the boatyardî that hangs opposite the sculptural ìAnubis Melitensisî.
ìThe reference to time is perhaps the fruit of my wanting to document,î he says.
ìAs a young artist I had been influenced also by the writing of Desmond Morris who had said that the boatyard is an ongoing exhibitionÖ this got me thinking and I started looking for those tell-tale details such as the ëghajní Ö I became attached to the boatyard and its many ethnic elements.
ìEventually the research also pushed me to comment on the issues related to the boatyards and the sea. In ëA Shroud for the Seaí, a work of which Iím particularly proud, is not only a reference to the Christian Mythology which shapes our cultural frame of mind. By recomposing an image out of the canvas sheet covering a luzzu I am also stating that we need to take care of our sea and our boatyards.
ìContemporary society with its cynical mindset has seen to the destruction of fantastic beliefs like for example the idea of mermaids (also mentioned by Columbus)
ìWe need to look after our boatyards and preserve this wealth which survives round the fishing communities. Some have already died like in Pieta, others are still struggling against heavy development like for example in St Julianís bay What will become of St Julianís if the fishing community is chased out?î
You obviously have very strong feelings about the preservation or rather the development of these sites and the people that animate them. What do you think your role as an artist should be outside this exhibition hall? Who or what should the artist represent in society?
ìLocal artists are continuously battling against false preconceptionsÖ we are not the bourgeois elite most people think we are and we donít do art to while away the time. The scale of the Island and the many pressures which the artist has to face donít help much but things seem to be moving forward.
ìIt is not an excuse to say we canít work within the present structureÖ we have now joined the European Union and this will help push us a bit closer to the international contemporary art scene.
ìHowever, we need to realise that if we are to boost cultural life in Malta (which will also create new jobs) we need to start funding more projects and market them properly.
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