Approved: 03.08.2017

Maxine Attard

Artist, Maker, Teacher

Archived
Approved: 03.08.2017

Maxine Attard’s work mainly consists of works on paper and wood (the grid works), and site-specific installations. Her main working process is based on materials, surface, repetition, geometry, space and structure.

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  • Location: Gozo, Malta

Artist Statement

Maxine Attard’s work mainly consists of works on paper and wood (the grid works), and site-specific installations. Her main working process is based on materials, surface, repetition, geometry, space and structure.

Maxine’s work stems from the preoccupation with the meaning of human existence in the face of the void. Her work is a reaction to the dramatic, chaotic and excessiveness life (of every individual and society as a whole). Her process involves disposing away of all that is unnecessary to arrive at a kind of order.

In her ‘grid works’, Maxine attempts to resolve tensions between materials, dimensions and composition. The materials include paper, wood, pencil, graphite, acrylic and household paint, thread, beads, masking tape, fabric, acetate sheets, etc. Tensions include the contrast between the natural and  the synthetic, the opaqueness and the translucency, the glossy and matt surfaces, the concealed and the exposed, the added and subtracted, the proportions and ratios between the grid and the frame and the tension between the idea of ideal perfection existing in the mind and the imperfect rendering of that idea by the human hand. Within this play of tensions, the grid with its element of repetition is the stabilizing force that keeps both her thought and working process focused and consistent. The grid is an attempt to bring order and clarity to the chaos mentioned earlier.

Whilst in her grid works, Maxine grapples with unanswerable questions, in her installations she works with the aftermath of what could be a futile process (of endless repetition); in the face of the void, all we as humans can do, is to alienate ourselves (from despair) by actually congregating and living together. Maxine’s installations offer the space for this congregation to happen. The structure/space is constructed and is completed by the audience/viewer/public who occupy that space.

CV & Education

Selected Exhibitions, Collaborations, Competitions and Commissions  
2016 Bodyless, group exhibition, Maritime Museum, Birgu, Malta 
2016 ‘Pjazza Teatru Rjal’ Public Art Commission  - INHABIT, Valletta, Malta 
2015 October - November  BJCEM – Mediterranea 17, No Food’s Land, Young Artists Biennale, Milan, Italy 
2015 September  A Dining Room (collaborative event) at Art..e Gallery, Gozo, Malta 
2015 August – October  A Dining Room(collaborative installation) in Divergent Thinkers, part of VIVA 2015, Malta 
2013 Drawings, solo exhibition, Art..e Gallery, Gozo, Malta 
2013 DUKEOFEDINBURGHHOTEL Room 36, group exhibition, Sentinella, Citadel, Gozo, Malta 
2012 Religionis Violentia, group exhibition, London West Bank Gallery, London  
2012 iconoKLASTI, collaborative exhibition, Victoria, Gozo  
2012 Resting Place, collaborative installation with Justin Falzon, Nadur Parish Church, Gozo, Malta  
2011 M.A. Fine Art Show, University of Brighton, U.K.  
2011 Down to the Essentials, work exhibited in a collective exhibition, Riverside Gallery, Richmond, London  
2011 Enabling Excessive Restricting Essential, collaborative project, Grand Parade, University of Brighton, England  
2010-2011 a series of two exhibitions, Grand Parade, University of Brighton, England  
2010 Analysing Time in Vista, group exhibition around several locations in Victoria, Gozo, Malta  
2010 4VISIONS, group exhibition, Mosta, Malta  
2009 Heritage at Risk, group exhibition by Heritage Malta, Palazzo Vilhena, Malta  
2009 The Carmelites, solo exhibition, Carmelite Priory Museum, Malta   
 
Education and Training  
2010-2011 Masters in Fine Art University of Brighton, U.K. Grade: Distinction   
2005 – 2008 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History of Art University of Malta Grade: 2nd Class Upper (delivered in English).   
 

Work Experience and other

2012 – 2014 Assistant-Lecturer in Fine Art and Historical/Critical Studies, MCAST Malta Institute of Arts, Science and Technology. 
2008-2010 Artist in Residence, Carmelite Priory Museum, Mdina, Malta    

Articles
2016 Il-Bizzilla, AirMalta In-Flight Magazine, Issue 46.                                                                              The Sunday Times of Malta, an article on Inhabit public artwork.                                                          Encore: Arts and Culture Magazine, Issue#4

Portfolio 
www.maxineattard.com