"Creating anything in clay, wood or stone has always fascinated me. In fact I spend most of my time in my studio working on a new piece of sculpture either in the round or in relief for my satisfaction. I rarely follow sketches and drawings unless it’s a commission or project; I prefer to attempt carving in stone or wood by following the form of the piece of material I have in hand, alabaster, marble, concrete, olive wood whatever and then try to bring out the figure I visualize in the particular block. Wood is probably my favourite material, even though the variations of wood available locally are limited, both in quantity and size. Hardwoods take a better finish than soft ones; the best wood found in small quantity here is definitely olive wood; however, I find great satisfaction working on branches or trunks of carob, jacaranda, pine, cypress and citrus trees. I prefer to finish my wood carvings by applying one or two coats of teak oil then polish with wax and oil.
Clay is much used on my projects to mould a figure and cast it in plaster or fired it in an electric kiln as terracotta. I rarely glaze the latter; if I need to give it colour I use acrylics.
Apart from identified imagery, I am very keen on creating fantasy landscapes and sculpture forms that exist only in my imagination. Abstract art does not form part of my vocabulary; I prefer to use the terms ‘non-figurative’, ‘non-objective’ or ‘non-representational’ when describing my sculpture. In everything I do, it’s not only a matter of feasting the eyes but also of using the mind to search for and extract the hidden image embedded in each work. Surrealism is a substantial part of my work.
I try to give titles to every sculpture even non-figurative ones; such as Musical Form, In Praise of Flight, Conception, and Development in White and so on.
Having been active in this field for more than forty years, including teaching art from secondary to tertiary level, the retrospective exhibition organised and sponsored by the Bank of Valletta couldn’t have happened at a better date than this time of my career when I feel that I am at my best in creating interesting works of art not only for my own satisfaction but also to please all those who own or see my work."
