Gozitan sculptor’s work permanently installed in The Netherlands

Gozitan Sculptor Mario Agius has just returned from Beesel in The Netherlands where he was invited to participate in an international sculpture symposium named ‘Houdt kunst in uitvoering’.

This international event was organised by the ‘Huis Voor De Kunsten Limburg’ and curated by Eddy Thonon. Agius created a public sculpture together with another 4 artists - Raimondas Urdravis from Lithuania, Andy O’Neil from the UK, Kathrin Hubi from Germany and Jos Beurskens from The Netherlands. Each artist worked individually for ten consecutive days on a large oak trunk.

Agius’ work measured 2.6 meters in height and showed various iconographical symbols linked with St George interwoven in a semi abstract composition. The symposium was about the link between St George and the folklore and the history of the Beesel. The presentation of the artworks was featured on numerous newspapers and RTV Roermond TV station. The five public sculptures were installed permanently in different public locations across the city of Beesel.

Mario Agius has manifested a fond inclination to sculpture and design from his early years. He began his artistic studies under the late Mons. Michelangelo Apap and furthered his studies in wood sculpture under artist Anton Agius (19332008). The artist has a number of sculptures in private collections both locally and abroad including England, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.

In 2015 Fr Tony Sciberras, the ex-rector of the Sacred Heart Seminary in Gozo during the opening of ‘Vitae’ exhibition affirmed that, “within the art of Mario Agius, the creation of the new, the other from that which is fragile, from materials lacking form and beauty - seems to be the central theme: the creation of the human figure from scattered rocks or formless branches; the formation of a new life in a woman’s fragile womb; the new life that emerges from that which has been broken, deprived of all human dignity and crucified. Mario Agius sees life even where you and I see only death.”