LAWRENCE BUTTIGIEG,
OR LIGHT RECONFIGURED

In an oeuvre as multifaceted as that of Lawrence Buttigieg, the dominating constant is undoubtedly the exploration of the infinite possibilities of light. In Buttigieg's landscapes, portraits, and nudes, which are painted in a style whose roots go back to Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and, more recently, to Pierre Bonnard, Graham Sutherland, and Euan Uglow, light is an overwhelming presence. Following Bonnard's precept that "colour acts," Buttigieg chooses to concentrate on the dynamic and performative power of colour by using it less for essentially descriptive or representational purposes and more for its expressive qualities. As the artist himself observes:
Constant work has allowed me to develop a personal style of painting. Stylistic ideas and techniques have been borrowed and modified to suit my particular needs. My work is dependent on close observation of the subject and the expressive use of colour.

Without any differentiation among the various elements - animate or inanimate, floral or faunal - light suffuses Buttigieg's figures and landscapes equally. In Salini, for example, the forms of land, sea, and sky are simplified and reduced to subtle orchestrations of colour and stroke while the identity of the landscape is created minimally by the pier and the fishing boat. Again, Bonnard's words come to mind:
Colour seduced me. Almost unconsciously, I sacrificed form to it. But it is absolutely true that form exists, and one cannot deflect it arbitrarily or indefinitely.

Such a process of dual coding between colour and form is also at work in Buttigieg who visually represents the physical beauty of a natural landscape while overlaying it with an expressive texture of colours and shapes, thereby defamiliarizing what might initially seem realistic and representational. Often, the play of light and shadow is used to such effect by Buttigieg that colour consonances forge an indissoluble link between land and sky, and the divide marking off one from the other is practically erased, as in Padru`, Sardegna. The mutual fluidity of land and sky is also perceptible in St. Anthony Street, Balzan, in which a subtle range of colour and light effects is achieved within a very narrow compass of yellows and greens highlighted by unexpected splashes of mauve. Particularly hypnotic in its thrust is Mtarfa Cemetery, which derives its forcefulness from the fusion of two apparently contradictory elements: material substance or specificity on the one hand, and universality, or an expressionist sense of timelessness, on the other. Though a strong sense of location is unmistakable, at the same time Mtarfa Cemetery, like many of Buttigieg's landscapes, appears to be free of a specific identification.
The relentless study of light typical of Buttigieg's landscapes also dictates the form, colour, and mood of both his portraits and his nudes. The artist's interest in portraiture, which is both a search for physical likeness as well as an exploration of psychological ambivalences and inner complexities, reveals a keen awareness of the endless permutations of light in the delineation of character and mood. Like his landscapes, Buttigieg's probing studies of the self and others are highly subjective and essentially expressionistic. Driven by the need to reach a balance between inner truths and surface realities, Buttigieg distills the physical elements of his subjects to a bare minimum in his probing series of single figures depicted against bare backgrounds. Details and contours are manipulated with the intent of creating light and movement in the musculature, the squareness of a cheekbone, the delicate curve of a wave, or the raised eyebrow. A particularly complex painting of unusual depth which is highly indicative of Buttigieg's consummate skill and sensitivity toward such details is Peter Barker and his guide dog. This sober and reflective portrait is an enduring image of time and silence shared, of man and dog harbouring the same private, internal dream, and paradoxically united by their gaze - a blind gaze and a seeing gaze both of which are directed toward an identical focal point.
The bold lines and radiant colours of Buttigieg's landscapes and portraits also characterize his sharply defined nudes which emerge into the light with startling clarity and poignancy. The series of graceful nudes expresses a timeless simplicity and directness whose effect is compounded by the narrow spectrum of strong emotive colours ranging from bright yellow and green to irridescent mauve-blue touched with turquoise. Although the clean outlines and generalized shapes confer to these figures a quasi abstract presence, at the same time they are endowed with their own distinctive physical features which are laden with erotic ambiguity. As Buttigieg probes the ambiguity of such an appeal, he raises a series of intriguing questions, all of which having to do primarily with painting and perception. The artist's observations regarding Isabelle I are particularly germane:
She gives a sense of isolation and abandon, unaware of any onlookers who might be watching her nakedness. The upward tilt of the head suggests that the girl is engrossed in her secret thoughts. The posture intimates arousal.

Rather than acknowledging complicity with the male gaze through returned looks, Buttigieg's female nudes are invariably absorbed in total self-involvement and engaged in equally self-conscious gestures. In introspective silence, their bodies with their warm variations of skin tone under the light, express sensual delight, desire, and even sexual challenge. And yet, their enigmatic gaze remains unavailable as they look into a corner of the room that cannot be reached from our own point of view.
As the viewer's eye moves back and forth between Buttigieg's landscapes, portraits, and nudes, he is struck by a maelstrom of colours, shapes, and brushstrokes. The space is charged with shimmering surfaces and the interplay of light and dark, strong horizontals and verticals, contour and field, sea and sky, human figures and bare backgrounds. A kind of primal energy emanates from the splendid visual representation of an objective reality filtered through the metamorphosing lens of light.

Gloria Lauri-Lucente
Department of Italian,
University of Malta

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