Daniel Borg: 'Complex things are made from simple ones'

Artist Daniel Borg tells all in our Q&A

From Pandemic Boredom in Berlin to a Vibrant Life of Painting. Go Blind Era is Borg’s second solo exhibition that invites you to explore the depths of contradictory meanings within the human experience. From 13 October to 5 November at ’Il-Kamra ta’ Fuq, Mqabba’.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Check the Berlin weather forecast.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Complex things are made from simple ones.

What do you never leave the house without?

My specs and keys.

Pick three words that describe yourself

Mediator, motivated, clueless.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Being invited to do a solo exhibition after six months of painting.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Watching football.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

The best opportunities come when least expected.

Property and cars aside what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

My guitar, when I was 22 years old.

What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?

Painters can be cool too.

Who’s your inspiration?

Mortality.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Deadlines.

If you weren’t a painter, what would you be doing?

I would be a sculptor.    

Do you believe in God?

Sometimes.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be?

Van Gogh, I would love to see his reaction when I tell him what happened with his paintings.

What’s your worst habit?

Punctuality.

What are you like when you’re drunk?

Depends on the people around me.

Who would you have play you in a film?

I would play any role in a Christopher Nolan movie.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Il-Qamel (stinginess).

What music would you have played at your funeral?

Do you Realize? by Flaming Lips.

What is your most treasured material possession?

My sketches.

What is your earliest memory?

Splitting my head open on my grandmother’s banister.

When did you last cry, and why?

Last week watching Manchester United.

Who would you most like to meet?

Brian Eno.

What’s your favourite food?

Anything with chocolate.

Who’s your favourite person on social media right now?

David Beckham.

If you could travel in time, where would you go?

New York, 1970s.

What book are you reading right now?

Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Being invisible.

What’s one thing you want to do before you die?

Travel to America

What music are you listening to now?

Alan Vegas’s whole catalogue.

In the shower or when you’re working out, what do you sing/listen to?

I tend to listen to upbeat tempo music.

Arts Council Malta.

This article is supported by Arts Council Malta.