Colours and more than colours
excerpt from the speech by Mark Debono
at the opening of ‘hues+’ exhibition at Muska Gallery on the 12th October 2005
As we look at Dione Borg’s oil paintings, what strikes us immediately is the presence of the human figure in various pictures. Different figures dominate the space of these paintings – nudes, men with musical instruments, ballet dancers.
In almost every painting we notice two types of rhythm. On one hand we can see the methodical and calculated rhythm where the artist’s hand seems rigid controlling line and colour with strictness. On the other hand, in contrast with the first rhythm, we see the artist’s hand being fresher and more primitive. Dione paints these rhythms adjacently creating a continuous tension between them. When these contrasting rhythms are seen working against each other, they produce an incredible effect of drama and spontaneity in the figures.
The constant tension provides a vibrant composition for the figures. It is a duel, a tension of steps like in a Tango dance. One hand measures the strokes of colours to evoke a sense of calculated serenity, and the other hand paints random strokes to portray a sense of anxiety. Most often, the solid and fresh outlines of many of the figures merge together. It is a constant tension between that which forms and gives unity and structure and the formless, which has no unity and contrast.
In this continuous battle between the two sides of the figures – one strong and the other one weak - that reflects also the character of life. It is an ambivalent life that oscillates between a sense of direction and lack of it.
We are not certain if the dancers by their look are resting or anxious, we are not certain either in face of the emotions of the bodies of these figures if they are stretched out in the nakedness of their intimate sensuality or in the anxiety of being strangers to their own bodies. This uncertainty is most apparent in “Matt” and “Claude”, there is the desire to feel the melodic notes in the void that surrounds them and in the same painting one can feel a heavy silence, the lethargy that takes over when these very notes fade out into silence.
Tonight Dione is inviting us to let these figures serve as a window that throw a light on horizons filled with the contrasts of our own lives. His message is both clear and obscure – could the human person be made in any other way if not with the presence of all these contrasts? For this reason Dione I would like to thank you this evening for inviting us to join you so that you can share with us this mysterious energy called – art. I would also like to thank you for what we have shared together about art and life. I would now like to invite you to view these paintings in which, like the title suggests, we can see more than colour – Hues +. Thank you.
Mark Debono
Thunder in the Desert
excerpt from an article published on MALTA THIS MONTH, July 2004
written by E.V.Borg
The main concern of Dione Borg is man and his predicament. His early training at the local School of Art has left an indelible influence on his expression, He has a disciplined academic background, as his sketches of nudes confirm. He loves figurative art but his personal and intimate approach imbues his work with an expressionist vigour that can hardly be ignored, minimised or emphasised enough…..
His articulate precise outline, almost etched or engraved, imbues his work with a three dimensional quality more akin to sculpture than to painting. His works are almost monochrome, with a limited palette based on sepia and earth colours. Most of his work is in pen and ink, in chiaroscuro with a tendency towards drawing and an emphasis on design and a balanced composition. Even his oils verge on monochrome. He rather prefers perfecting on tradition.
Thunder in the Desert (1995) is a formidable work executed in a strong, vigorous and forceful expression. A frontal male nude seems to project out of the surrounding space or from a block of solid matter. He is battered and contorted in his anguish and angst against a cruel world that gives him neither quarter nor respite. The pain, fear and suffering expressed in the facial features almost transform his physiognomy into a Leonardo caricature. The violent frontal movement forward is borrowed from the ancients and resembles that of the Vatican Laocoon, while the sensation of the figure emerging out of the frame implies Michelangelo’s fixation of the force within escaping from the block.
The concept of a divine struggle or of una lotta continua seems to dominate the artist tremendously; possibly it is his philosophy on life. One of his works, Jacob and the Angel, dealsexplicitly with such an outlook. Probably Jacob is the artist himself. Like Delacroix he wrestles with the angel but is so helpless and overpowered that he surrenders unconditionally. Vanquished, he lies in the ground and is so despaired that he is unable to rise to his feet and continue the struggle. Dione’s expression seems autobiographical.
His Annunciation is a contemporary interpretation of the scriptural anecdote. The young girl is bending over the kitchen sink or table preparing some food. On the other hand his painting of Horses is a veritable scene of commotion and panic. His pen and ink sketches of female nudes show an acute sensibility and sensitivity for draughtsmanship. A rear view of a nude is drawn with verve; it is clean, clear and precise…..