Johanna Barthet’s exciting fourth solo exhibition is currently taking place at studio 87, Liesse Hill in Valletta and will be running until the 10^th November.

She is a Maltese artist working mainly in painting. Known for her figurative work, contemporary portraits and unique mode of expression, Barthet has a passion for the human form and capturing the emotional side of the characters in her paintings. Barthet studied art from a very young age and attended various courses in Malta, but she is mainly self-taught. Drawing inspiration from fashion editorials and social media platforms, she reinterprets the subjects in her own manner and simultaneously creates a distinctive mood in each one of her works. Her style has been likened to the movements of the early 20th century and she is considered as one of Malta’s most fascinating artists of contemporary portraiture. 

Her current exhibition, ‘Now You See Me’ is a collection of paintings within a timeline of four years, four years that were of an upheaval for Johanna on a personal level. This eventually also impacted her artistic performance. In 2019 she had her very first solo exhibition and immediately after that she began to experience episodes of anxiety and panic attacks. 

Johanna sought comfort in a huge number of very spontaneous drawings on wooden blocks, all 15 x 15cm in size. After a few months she gave these drawings colour, giving birth to the works displayed in this exhibition today. The small squares depict all types of personalities and different faces. These continued to be of comfort especially during the covid lockdown periods, possibly giving some kind of human connection in a time where humans we were physically separated. During this period of time, Johanna like so many other people, could feel the decline of her mental health. After that surreal period, a time of dryness and silence arrived, reflecting her very own state of mind. Fast forward to summer 2023, something propelled her to find the strength to revisit these works, expressing a newfound passion and intensity in their execution.

‘Now You See Me’ saw Johanna through phases of darkness and loneliness. It then exploded again after a period of self discovery and healing. The works want you to look at them.

“See me, make of us what you will, stare at us while we stare back at you”, Johanna expressed while explaining what her paintings are demanding of their audience.

Johanna’s previous exhibitions have included ‘The Little Shop Upstairs’, ‘Dreamscapes’ and ‘Stories Untold’.