An Exhibition of drawings of the Gozo Citadel by Richard England is taking place at the Art…e Gallery, Victoria, Gozo.

Richard England said that he has long been fascinated by the Gozo Citadel ever since his student days, when he spent extensive study periods on Homer’s Isle of Calypso. As such it has constantly featured in much of England’s graphic and visual art work and also been the inspiration for a number of his poems. His 1973 publication ‘Carrier – Citadel Metamorphosis’ (MRSM Ltd, Malta) examined formal and historical relationships between the citadel silhouette and the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, due to its special relationship to Malta.

The publication featured the changes these two land and sea fortresses, different time war machines, undertook with the passage of time. The walled defensive citadel now opened its portals to welcome visiting tourists and the seaborne carrier, recreated as a sculpture in a project carried out in collaboration with the late Scottish concrete poet Ian Hamilton Finlay, has its aircraft lift shafts changed to bird baths for docile birds.

The Citadel also featured in England’s ‘Gozo Suite’ set of prints of 1995 and formed an extensive part of his 1997 publication ‘Gozo, Island of Oblivion’ (Libria, Italy); a collection of drawings of the island accompanied by his poems and John Cremona’s eclogues. The book also carried an introduction by Ann Monsarrat. The publication was, in a way, an architect-artist’s passionate plea and crusade for the preservation of Gozo’s unique spirit of place.

More recently, a number of poems featured in ‘Sanctuaries’ 2006 (Libria, Italy + Midsea Books, Malta) were inspired by the architecture, pre-history and phenomenology of the island and also its iconic citadel.

For the exhibition at Maria Cassar’s Art..e Gallery at Library Street, Victoria, Richard England is presenting a new suite of original drawings based on graphic interpretations in the form of visual meditations of this walled city.

England believes that his relationship with the essence of this place could perhaps be best summed up in Italo Calvino’s words “ever since I entered this city, the city has entered into me; there is no room inside me for anything else.”

The exhibition opens on Monday, the 7th of October until Thursday, the 7th of November, on Monday to Sunday between 9.30am and 12.15pm.

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