SACRED | PROFANE

Curator : Gloria Laura Lucente

Artist: Lawrence Buttigieg

Sunday 2nd April till Sunday 30th April (Open only between Wednesday and Friday [15.00 – 21.00] and on Saturday and Sunday [10.00 – 13.00] & [15.00 – 21.00])

Space C1-C4, St James Cavalier, Valletta

SACRED | PROFANE is an ongoing research project consisting of a series of three-dimensional, mixed-media, body-themed box-assemblages, as well as a number of paintings. Through these works Lawrence Buttigieg renegotiates and subverts the traditional conventions in the studio, in particular the observant position of the male artist and the acquiescence of the female model. As a result, a mutually beneficial collaboration between the two is reached.

In the process of fragmentising and fetishising the female body, the box-assemblages also bring together the sacred and the profane on the premise that woman and the deity share a common realm; that of the Other. Viewers are invited to explore, both visually and tactually, the intimate materiality of each artefact, therefore prompted to establish a complicitous relationship with their protagonists.Most of the works are characterised by a state of ‘unfinishedness.’ Through time, the box-assemblage, rather than seeking finality, attunes itself to that of its protagonists. It becomes a direct reflection of their subjectivity, embraces their fluid nature, and is readily disposed to change over time.

Discussion : Corporeal Entanglement Beyond the Binary

Tuesday 11th April 2017 at 19:00

Cinema, St James Cavalier, Valletta

Introduced by Prof. Marsha Meskimmon (Loughborough University) with a talk entitled Corporeal Entanglement Beyond the Binary, this will be followed by a Q&A session with the artist, moderated by Prof Gloria Lauri-Lucente (University of Malta).