A sculptural dialogue by Victor Agius

Last week we visited the exhibition In Dialogue at  Il-Ħaġar Museum showcasing over 87 works by the acclaimed Gozitan artist Victor Agius. The exhibition catalogue, number 16 in Gems series, was launched on Saturday the 19th of February at with a special Meet the Artist session, as part of the Museum’s ninth anniversary celebrations. 

Il-Ħaġar Museum reopened its doors to the public on Saturday 29 January, coinciding with the opening of its first temporary exhibition of the year. Curated by Elyse Tonna, This exhibition showcases Gozitan artist Victor Agius’s works in terrarossa, ceramics, pigments, cement and clay, set ‘in dialogue’ with the Museum’s permanent display. Most of these works focus on how man uses nature and materials around him to practice his rituals in an effort to satisfy both his material and spiritual needs, while exposing his fragile existence.

Photo credits : Martin Attard

Introduction by Curator Elyse Tonna: 

In Dialogue is a cross-medium selection of works by Victor Agius creating direct juxtapositions between the historic and the contemporary. The dialogical process which lends itself to the exhibition title, is present throughout the museum facilitating discourse between the museum’s permanent collection, popular culture, traditions and contemporary art. One of the most extensive exhibitions by the artist to date, the interventions impart non-linear narratives creating compelling synchronicities with the museum’s historic and ecclesiastical collections. Derived from the word intervenire meaning to come between, Agius’ works transform themselves into mediators or catalysts, acting in social, political and cultural flux. Their composition and materiality are reflective of the passage of time, a certain perennial potency encapsulated within our soil, geological formations, earth, water and clay. Evoking a multitude of meanings and emanating from primordial matter such as terrarossa and natural pigments, the works allude to the deep bond between human and non-human life, reflecting anthropocentric beliefs related to consumption, materiality, spirituality and existence. Rather than presenting itself as an evocation to subjective histories, the exhibition is an invitation to deepen our understanding in ways of seeing. Additionally, the artist showcases his capacity to draw in narratives passed down through generations; to reframe, revive, reactivate. In Dialogue intersects the museum’s thematics mediating ancestral narratives, intervening in time and creating connections between past and present. 

The exhibition is divided in a series of levels, each floor of the Museum tackles different forms of dialogues and relations to the existing collection. From Figures, Matter and Form to Splendour, the concepts and context is explored through media and subject. In the Matter and Form level we can see that the artist explores the dialogue with Stefano Erardi’s Lagealterpiece of St Paul”s Island, which in return is portrayed next to two concrete elongated sculptural works. The exhibition is a play of form, visuals and narratives that goes beyond the visual esthetic of the work.

Victor is known for his performance, installation, sculpture and painting. At its core, his work concerns  with formless matter. Agius examines the formless matter proper to his own experience of the environment –either randomly or carefully selected sites with their distinctive ecological and archeological features– which all finds its roots in the earth or soil-derived organic materials (raw clay, for instance, beside natural pigments, oils and acrylics). This has allowed him to produce a body of work through which to reflect upon the subject of human existence in general and the limits of his own existence in particular.

In Dialogue, curated by Elyse Tonna and hosted by Victoria’s Il-Ħaġar Museum, is open until March 8 from Monday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm. Consult the museum’s Facebook page for the catalogue.

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