REMEMBERENCE Remembering the late artist Isabelle Borg

Art News / Rememberence / Malta

November - December 2021

MALTA

LISA GWEN

When lovers were painted inside a bull

RThe Streak. Perhaps the reference may be elusive. That is, to those who did not know the formidable woman behind the painter and artist. Her appearance was as distinctive as her art: classy, whimsical, almost French in flavour; with her tight black jeans, black and white stripey tops, leather jacket, quirky accessories, and a brilliant white streak in her ebony black hair.

Isabelle Borg stood out wherever she went. Highly opinionated, vocal and wonderfully critical; she was a force to be reckoned with, in every sense of the word. Her paintings were a testament to her tenaciousness, her audacity. Having graduated from the Camberwell School of Art (London), with a BA in Fine Art, Isabelle returned to Malta where she set up a studio from her Floriana home. She read for a Masters in History of Art at the University of Malta and she lectured at the Junior College as well as the University of Malta.

Her first appearance in the Maltese art scene, came as early as 1982, where she participated in a group show, titled Women Artists of Malta, at the now defunct, Valletta exhibition space, Gallerija Fenici. Isabelle was never averse to being called a female or woman artist; despite her feminist views, she understood the need to ‘tip the scales’ and accentuate the importance of gender within the art context until a rightful balance had been restored.

Isabelle organised her first solo exhibition in Malta, in 1985, at the Archaeology Museum in Valletta (her first show having been held in Camberwell, in the same year). Simply titled Paintings & Drawings (although the exhibition also included etchings), she immediately set the tone as well as the style for all her future work. Debuting her ‘primitive’ works, and her most iconic painting to date – Lovers in the Bull – which, together with several other works, possessed the same ‘motif’ that was painted in direct reference to Maltese prehistoric temple culture. From her debut shows onwards, Isabelle exhibited her work regularly, almost on an annual basis – participating in various collective shows, as well as organising several one-woman exhibitions.

Isabelle’s work oscillated between several genres. In her abstract work, especially, from the series Sol – which was the title of her 2001 solo show at St James Cavalier (today Spazju Kreattiv) – her paintings were characterised by a very bold and bright palette and simple geometrical forms. Despite being completely visually abstract, she often contextualised her work, giving titles to her paintings and thus pointing viewers to her intended subjects. In other works, her titles simply reflected the prevalent chromatic choices. And yet, even her abstract work often blurred boundaries, with several pieces harking back to the style and chromatic preferences of earlier primitive pieces.

Despite the varying genre and subject matter, there was always a constant with her land and seascapes as well as her portraits. Then there was the combining of the two, which consistently displaced the importance of any one pictorial element – the figure or its surroundings – and instead elevated them both to the same plane. The portraits on the other hand, stand on their own, and especially iconic are her numerous suitcase portraits, where she often combined two connected portraits, or fused two aspects of the same persona into one. The suitcases, more than any other works, speak of her background, heritage and influences. Not unlike portable altarpieces dating back to as early as the13th and 14th century, the vessel encapsulating these portraits also referenced her travels, her roving mind, and her split journey between the UK, Malta, Berlin and Ireland (amongst others). Yet as she herself confessed, “painting portraits is exhausting… a portrait actually says more about the painter than the sitter, and in this way I trust my worst kept-secrets are safe. The unconscious elements of which the sitter is almost always unaware, create a tension, a presence, which the artist then transmits. It is the harmony or dissonance between the intuitive perception of the invisible and an acute observation of the visible, which balances each particular portrait… between solid representation and indulgent psychoanalytical illustration.” Isabelle’s words were carried in the 1989 Portraits exhibition brochure, wherein she exhibited a self-portrait within a suitcase, which dates to 1986 and is possibly the very first of her continued series.

Isabelle would paint herself time and again. Always stoic, elegant, powerful, yet different. Two of her last self-por-

LISA GWEN holds a first degree in History of Art and a Masters in Cultural Heritage Management. She is a freelance curator and writer for art and design events.

traits, both exhibited in her final exhibition – Strange Cargo, 2008 – are almost opposite poles, and highly indicative of her personality and personal struggles. Does my Butt Look Big in This, was one of her last suitcase paintings. Cheeky, in every sense of the word, this is a small, intimate piece, in which, on one panel, the artist paints herself applying lipstick in a mirror, whilst in her underwear. The suitcase is otherwise lined in mirrors, every angle, every curve, reflected back and forth, almost as though she were in a changing room; the viewer thus taking on the role of a voyeur or intruder. The other self-portrait – Nimby – is a huge work, in which the artist stands in her art-studio basement, alongside an open window which reveals the outside world which would soon be altered due to impending construction; an outside world which was affecting her health and causing her much distress in the process. In this painting, Isabelle, seems a shadow of her former self. Spirit-like, almost translucent, the application of paint thin and wispy rather than bold and expressive.

Isabelle passed away a little more than 11 years ago. Since then, a proper retrospective covering all aspects of her prolific career has been greatly overdue. Sadly, since her untimely demise, there has been little effort to safeguard her legacy and commemorate her seminal contribution to Malta’s art history. It was a few years back that Isabelle’s then partner, Graham Cooper, with whom she regularly exhibited, sought to entrust her work in the hands of a gallerist, who would not only act as ‘custodian’ but would ensure her continued visibility within the public realm. That is how the Isabelle Borg Collection, managed by Maria Galea, was born.

Organising a smaller scale retrospective in 2017, Maria always knew that Isabelle’s work deserved a larger expanse of space to showcase a fuller and more complete selection of paintings that encompassed her full career. That is what The Streak will attempt to do; divided into thematic sectionals, this exhibition will not only present Isabelle’s most iconic paintings, but also her drawings, sketches, preparatory works as well as sculptures and three-dimensional pieces.

Curated by the author, in direct collaboration with Creative Director Maria Galea for The Isabelle Borg Collection, The Streak retrospective exhibition will be held at Spazju Kreattiv, Space C, between 17 December 2021 and 16 January 2022. Sponsored by APS Bank.