Patrick Dalli: The Human Figure

From the Preface by Mario Buhagiar: Patrick Dalli insists on describing himself as a painter, not an artist. This is false modesty. If I were to shortlist the more important Maltese contemporary artists, his name will feature prominently, and I have no hesitation in singling him out as the leading master of the Nude. His lack of pretence is not only an endearing personal trait. It is, more importantly, an essential watermark of his art. Trained in the study of the nude under Anton Calleja, he has much to be proud of and boast about. What he has managed to achieve in a decade or so of single minded dedication to art is impressive. Studio practice, particularly drawing from life, take up most of his free time, and he has in the process become dexterous in the manipulation of the medium and in capturing the fleeting poses of his models. To borrow and slightly edit the well-known advice of Antonio Canova to his pupils, he sketches with fire and paints with phlegm. His paintings are highly finished and reveal fastidiousness with having as much a perfect product as he is capable of mastering. He is habitually self critical and finding satisfaction with his own work is for him a long and suffered process. If you have the good fortune to be invited to his studio, you are immediately struck by his earnestness to know your opinion and take note of it. Such an attitude may sometimes result in a loss of freshness in the finished work that is, nonetheless, compensated by the sculptural solidity and monumentality of his figures. His Nudes have a dignified sobriety and an anatomical exactitude that is hard to surpass in Maltese contemporary art. In addition to his command of the human figure, Patrick Dalli also excels in portraits. This is a side of his art, known only to a close circle of friends, but it merits to be better publicised. His straightforward approach and rejection of the contrived and the artificial give his portraits a wide appeal. They are never portentously inflated, nor do they stoop down to flattery. Their down-to-earth rendering of the physical appearance creates an immediacy with the sitter that brings out the character in a truer light. The technique is excellent and surprisingly unpretentious.