Lyrical colour palette – Maria Galea’s

International artist Maria Galea’s artworks are like painted poems seamlessly flowing with beautiful colourful hues. The artist from Malta, Europe created 13 vivid and captivating paintings as part of her ‘artist in residency’ project at Easel Stories. Her one day debut exhibition at Easel Stories showcased the line of works with different hues and aspects created during her residency in India. Her works with tonal combinations and textures evoke emotions through the boldness of her colour creating visual intensity for the viewer.  “I was in a residency for six days hosted by Easel Stories. I created 13 pieces with enamel paint and mixed media. The works were very colourful and bright as they are inspired by Indian culture. We also made an installation wall of photographs depicting my process of creating art. The photographs and the setup displayed how I got messy with my paints. The marbling effect in the works was created by painting with my hands. I use masks to save myself from the toxic paints and gloves to mix paints. The installation helped the audience to understand my work process better,” said Maria.

 
Maria’s most appreciated work the ‘Saree movement’ took her the maximum time to create. She shared, “Saree movement was the first work that I started and the last one to finish. It transformed itself and had five layers. I first started it with a woman in saree walking through water. But, slowly it changed its course. I used the most mixed media elements in it, like cracked paste, acrylic, enamel paint, newspapers and gold powder. All these elements gave a 3D effect to the work.”
 
Water is a common thread that connects all her paintings and marks the essence of Maria’s works. “Being born and brought up on an island, water has always been my inspiration. I always like to incorporate the element of water in my works,” she told. Maria owns her own gallery Marie5 in Malta, but a residency project was a different experience for the artist. “Staying in a residency and painting has been the most challenging experience I have ever had. But, it was also very positive on the other side. I came with no plan when I landed in India. I wanted to be inspired by my experiences in India and went with the flow.” Maria has been trained under Malta’s premier ceramist Gabriel Caruana and has studied at prestigious Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London. At the age of 23, Maria was chosen to exhibit at New York’s Art Expo, where her international artistic journey took off.