Damian Ebejer

Edge of Distance29 April - 28 May 2016

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4The first time I looked at Damian's work must have been eight years ago. His work

grew slowly on me. There was something about it that made me want to go back to

it and reconsider. It triggered a pensive element in me and I felt I wanted to dialogue

with it and discover the meaning that was only hinted at. I wanted to follow a trail,

Damian’s trail of crumbs that would lead me on.

I finally met up with Damian two years ago and we discussed his work at length.

I was still unsure where he was heading. I could not yet grasp the message he had for

me as a viewer. This left me feeling hesitant as the work triggered within me paradoxical

sensations; a satisfaction that comes with the need to search for answers myself and a

frustration that comes with an inability to slot the work and understand it. It wasn't until

a few months ago when Damian approached me and asked me to help him put up an

exhibition that I started to really consider and find understanding in his work.

We met regularly in his studio and this helped me realise where Damian is

coming from and who he is about. The work we have chosen for this exhibition aims

to give the public a closer peek into Damian, the artist. There is however a fine line

that no one can thread; a veil which no one can lift. Maybe this is the reason why he

lets us, the viewers, keep wanting to come back for more.

Curator’s introductionJoe Philippe Abela

Damian Ebejer and Joe Philippe Abela

previous page: The Word was a Zephyr

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Edge of DistancePamela Baldacchino

Damian fills the kettle and turns it on. He lights a cigarette and moves to the kitchen

door, politely smoking outside. He waits quietly for the water to boil.

Words take form, creating trails of thought that link his works one to the

other. The flow of tide gathers up close and recedes back again into the distance,

coming and going as it were, an endlessly repeated performance. This rhythmic pull

of forces that cannot be seen, only felt, brings with it a consolatory lull. In this empty

space there are moments of recognition and recollection that stem from nothing, an

awareness which precludes justification.

As the water boils Damian moves back to the kitchen counter. I observe his

shadow as it trails faithfully behind. It is the shadow of absence that sits lightly on

his shoulders and heavily in his gut leaving an air of futility in its wake. He proceeds

to make us tea in mugs. He turns around to explain this word or that, a feeling or

understanding. As he talks, a gentle gleam softly creases his face. What is it about

Pamela Baldacchino and Damian Ebejer

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The Fragility of Peace 100 x 100 cm

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Damian that escapes me? I notice a form of detachment in life, a subtle disengagement

from things that is manifested and challenged in his artistic work.

A milky cloud settles in the tea. ‘There are recesses in our mind we know

nothing of’, Damian writes in his poem Out of Nothing. Within these spaces,

reverberate repressed thoughts and stifled conflicts. It seems almost as if they have

been inherited, passed on from one generation to another. They take root amidst

the decay that is flesh. Flesh expressed in words that seek to find but cannot, elusive

imagery that seek to capture but glide over, dreams reflected on parallel planes.

Winter Shore 51 x 62 cm

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Final Heartbeat 100 x 120 cm

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She passes though the Veils of Night 100 x 100 cm

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Alphabet of Desire 80 x 80 cm

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Out of Nothing 80 x 80 cm

Damain Ebejer is a master of drama, suspense and intrigue, yet a restrained one, relying on angst and unrest to fuel his creative fire.

Laner Cassar

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The White Room 93 x 123 cm

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The Fragility of Peace at the Belgravia Gallery, London with Ms. Laura Walford (Gallery Director) and Mr. Prakash Bal Joshi (WCA Ethics Director), 2014

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forPatricia Mary Johnson

(1938 - 1963)

Damian Ebejeremail: damianart@onvol.net mob: 9980 1721

Artist’s note

My art is a constant discovery of myself. It is the place

I go to. I am not terribly interested in portraying the

reality I see outside of myself; I search for a collective

beauty, entangled with the ugly and the chaotic, in

order to compose an subconscious recognition of

fascinating order.