As a friend of mine put it, Spagnols painting has an affinity with the results achieved by Kirlain photography.
This specific photographic technique definitely fixes the mediums aura by capturing its electrical field. It reveals the moods. Physical strength and spiritual intensity or property of the medium. This technique exposes a persons anger by depicting as a colour the energy field that forms around his fingers. Anthonys abstract expression is a personal interpretation of Kandinskys language. Yet every work by Spagnol is a personal and sincere projection of his moods, desires, failures and successes.
Spagnol admits that every person is prone to tragedy; that each one of us might encounter during lifes journey the Garden of Gethsemane: the sudden and terrific realisation that the love, care and patience lavished overa span of time are transformed into harsh punishment, tremendous pain and divine torment instead of being translated into a handsome reward.
One can understand the psychic intensity of Spagnols works when he confides that he actually transforms an acute experience into a tangible expression. His work method or procedure is elaborate and controlled. He does not countenance any distractions while working. He locks the studio door behind him and lets relayed music inspire him.
He starts from sketches and drawings and allows room for development of both his drawings and concepts. He demands absolute control during the entire creative process. From the planning phase he passes to execution, but he never abandons a canvas. The Pit is a dramatic abstract inspired by Germinal, the novel by Emile Zola. Anthony allows the atmosphere in this novel to move him into a trance which he then transforms into an abstract picture.
The literary inspiration behind Passage to Eldorado and Shadows over Eldorado is the novel Candide by Voltaire, while Night Without End evolves out of reading The Trail by Kafka. Classical music is also a source of inspiration: Anthonys favourite composers are Bach, Mozart and Dvorac.
Shadows of a Massacre evokes the cruel laceration and tragic torment of the bloodbath at Hebron. The intensity of feeling that is expressed projects in a tactile sense the freentic stab wounds. Blood stains the walls, ground and atmosphere - actual testimony of the massacre and simultaneous accusation.
Anthony Spagnol was born at Zejtun in 1960. At 36 he beams the innocence of a child, the joy of goodness and the serenity of an honest and sincere man. He was brought up by caring parents. Unspoilt, he grew up in discipline and a stable environment. The sustained discipline has sharpened his intensity.
His greatest fear was the uncertainty of achieving his aim: to become an artist. The road was hard and terribly tortuous. He attended the local School of Art for 14 long years, and studied drawing under Harry Alden and Joe L. Mallia for six years. In 1987 he enrolled for a four-year diploma course in painting at the same school, graduating in 1991. In 1990 he joined the Museums Department and proceeded to a three-month course in restoration at the Fortezza di Basso in Florence, and later on at the Istituto per la Conservazione dei Beni Culturali in Sicily.
Anthony received his initial orientation from the dilettanti or craftsmen of the village festa who paint the popular street furniture and statues and restore them. Their marbling techniques and skill in carpentry used to fascinate the youth.
Baroque, a traditional and predominant style on the island, together with an intense religious upbringing, influenced his studies earlier in life. The restoration of works by Preti and Paladini and the experience gained emphasised this approach. Anthony has organised three personal exhibitions - in March 1993, March 1995 and May 1997.
(Source: MALTA This Month May 1997, Advantage Press Ltd., Regency
House, Republic Street, Valletta, Malta)
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