By E.V. Borg

Ray Azzopardi is presenting a collection of monumental sculpture in wood entitled: ‘Works’. The collection (about 40 pieces) is mounted at Palazzo Castellania, no. 15 Merchants Street Valletta. Dr. Joe Cassar, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health will inaugurate the exhibition on Friday 8th May 2009 at 7.30pm. The exhibition will remain open for public viewing till the 30th of the month.

Ray’s work belongs to the Italian school of sculpture of the first half of the 20th century led by the father of Italian sculpture the renowned Arturo Martini (1889-1947). Francesco Messina, Marino Marini, Giacomo Manzu, Pericle Fazzini and Emilio Greco to mention a few belong to the same faction in contrast to the impressionist Medardo Rosso (1858-1928).

Ray’s sculpture does not reflect or refract light (as in the work of Rosso); it absorbs light. His works are statuesque, strong, bold, massive, robust and heavy. If one had to relate them to Roman architecture they would fit nicely. Such architecture is described as an enormous oak tree with roots deep into the ground and branches reaching to the skies, sturdy, strong and vertical.

Ray’s works are dynamic with the force within exploding outwards. His work is not broken by light but caressed by it creating a mellow ‘chiaroscuro’. He keeps his distance from Rosso’s melting forms even when his work is highly textured as much as Josef Kalleya (1898-1998) snuggled close. Perhaps Ray has observed and studied the work of Samuel Bugeja (1920-2004) whose oeuvre is solid and massive.

Some of Ray’s best works are solid pieces with no spaces or holes for light to pass through. Perhaps his ‘Hermit’, more an immigrant in despair, ostracized and unloved, is a monument to an actual tragic drama. Like a hermit crab closed in itself, clutching his head as if it is going to explode and leaning forward as if indicating a direction that destiny has threatened and distorted is a scream of pain. ‘Music Lover’ is a romantic idyll, a musician absorbed in his role playing in a mesmerizing spell.

‘Father and Son’ is a romantic vision of paternal love. The child is pulling a toy-truck trailing behind him while his father is sheltering him under his umbrella. This work is explicitly influenced in its foward movement by Antonio Sciortino (1879-1947). The particular work is ‘Le Cavroches’ (c.1907). In other instances Ray’s curvaceous solid forms are explicit echoes of Henry Moore’s style but Azzopardi’s work is a personal idiom, felt and coming from the heart. His ballet dancers, a sensitive expression of maternity, female nudes (particularly ‘Torso’) and a ‘Beggar’ demonstrate that his art is a reflection on life. It is social realism at its best not without pathos but hardly with any excess sentimentality and anguish. The various woods employed: pine, poplar, walnut, lime, cypress and mahogany give variety of colour, texture and vein.

Ray Azzopardi started participating in collective exhibitions in 1987 and made his mark in 1992 in a Maltafest exhibition ‘An Idiom in Wood’ at the Mdina Cathedral Museum that I personally organized and curated. Then came Ray’s personal exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta (1996) and his recent showing at 20, Eucharistic Congress Street, Mosta (April 2009).

A quiet personality, humble and without pretensions Ray works steadily day in day out, three hours at a stretch after his main occupation. Almost without any publicity, in low profile he struggles on in the belief that his craft will not die as other crafts have died before it. He is a great craftsman and a serious artist.

We have lost enough young sculptors during the 20th century that include: Edward Pirotta (1939-68), Joseph Mary Genuis (1934-70) and Frans Galea (1945-94). Recently we lost Anthony Agius (1933-2008) of Rabat (died 19th October) a relative of Samuel Bugeja and not so long ago we lost Toni Pace (1930-89) of St. Dominic Street Valletta who studied under Emilio Greco. Fortunately we were lucky too when in 1977 we had among us the ‘Bronzetto Exhibition’ at the Palace Valletta –Italian sculpture at its best and we enjoyed the seminal exhibition: ‘Maltese Sculpture and Ceramics’ at the Gallerija Fenici, Valletta in 1981.