Adrian Abela



Work exhibited at School of Waters
Cappelletta nei Giardini dell’Antico Monastero di Santa Chiara
BAĦAR (2020-2021)
A: The Sacred Hearts of Mother Octopus (Following Roman Catholic Cosmology) (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
B: A Map for a Whole*, (a proposal for a cosmology to navigate consensus reality) (2020-2021)
*{Consciousness/Life/Bodies/Us}
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
C: O(cto)uroboros, with Earth’s planetary system, perceiving a sunrise or a sunset (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
D: Dear Earth, We are Sorry and ask for Redemption (A Map for A Value System) (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
E: The Maltese Islands, depicted as a cloud. Applying the ‘Map for a Whole’ onto a political and scientific system (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
F: Earth’s Wholly Spirit(2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 35 x 28 cm
G: Encounters with The Octopus; Xgħajra, Malta 2008 and Redwood Forest, California 2018 (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 28 x 22 cm
H: Arvid Pardo, Maltese diplomat, known as the Father of the Law of the Sea Conference and Ġorġ Preca Maltese Catholic saint, known for founding the M.U.S.E.U.M. (2020-2021)
Intention and graphite on paper, 28 x 22 cm
About the artist
Adrian Abela (1989, Malta) is an artist, architect, and acolyte. He studied architecture and civil engineering in Malta and Milan and received an MFA in sculpture from UCLA. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. His work meanders between poetry and metaphor to provide visceral interpretations of his perspective on being on Earth with its multiple histories and possible futures. His endeavors stem from curiosity of encountered materials and/or narratives in the waking and/or dreaming states. He uses science and inspiration to acknowledge that self-awareness and acquisition of knowledge might be illusory and temporary while harboring and forming part of a self-similar system. Together they intertwine their experiences of the complex, through spirit and politics, (the intrinsic and extrinsic, the passive and wilful, the aware and alienated, the present and ignorant); to navigate consensus reality.
Selected exhibitions include: Forewor(l)d, Make Room, Los Angeles, CA (2018), Desert Island, MCA, Valletta (2018), Homo Melitensis, Maltese Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2017), CHARTI, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta (2016).
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Fig. 1. Adrian Abela, installation view, Department for Martian Transportation - The particulars of the place, Where someone lives Or an organization is Situated. 1(1-6),2,3(2-4), 2018, Variable dimensions.
Courtesy of Malta Contemporary Art
Fig. 2. Adrian Abela, installation view, $omeWhere In Tim€ I Will Find You & Feel ¥ou Again, 2017, Variable dimensions, Courtesy of the artist.
Fig. 3. Adrian Abela, film still, AUTO/MANUAL MANIPULATION OF {WHAT} MATTER{S}, 2017-2018, Part of an installation, variable dimensions.
Courtesy of the artist
Courtesy of Malta Contemporary Art
Fig. 2. Adrian Abela, installation view, $omeWhere In Tim€ I Will Find You & Feel ¥ou Again, 2017, Variable dimensions, Courtesy of the artist.
Fig. 3. Adrian Abela, film still, AUTO/MANUAL MANIPULATION OF {WHAT} MATTER{S}, 2017-2018, Part of an installation, variable dimensions.
Courtesy of the artist