Snehta Residency is pleased to present two solo shows by current artists-in-residence: Reinventing the wheel by Aaron Bezzina and About eggshells and other possible becomings by Ruth Switalski, both curated by Eleni Riga. In the exhibition the artists will present the work they produced during their residency and research in Athens.

Reinventing the wheel 
Aaron Bezzina
Curated by Eleni Riga within the framework of Snehta Residency

Reinventing the wheel is the first solo show exhibition of the Maltese artist Aaron Bezzina in Athens. The exhibition is informed by the Wheel of Human Life, an icon from 1800 from the collection of the Byzantine Museum in Athens. The wheel of human life has been a recurrent motif since antiquity, mostly used during the Byzantine and post-Byzantine period to express the vanity of human earthly life. Both the didactic allegory of the wheel and the idiomatic metaphor “reinventing the wheel” offer a remarkable coherence to the artist’s existential quests about vanity and mortality. By using the wheel, an archetype of human ingenuity, Bezzina examines the essence of artistic gesture and shows a scepticism and sarcasm towards artwork’s ontology and legitimacy. The artists creates a closed loop system that perpetually repeats itself, questioning the idea of use value and commodification of the artwork. The Greek myth of Sisyphus comes to complete and underline the conscious absurdity of the mechanical repetition.

Aaron Bezzina (b. 1991) lives and works in Malta. Bezzina has recently graduated from the master Fine Arts in Digital Arts from the University of Malta and holds a BA in Fine Arts from MCAST Institute of Art and Design in Malta. He focuses on existential questions related to mortality and philosophical issues such as the immersion of art and the ontology of the artwork with a distinct sense of irony and sarcasm. Exhibitions include: MEMENTO MORI: Hints Taken From Terror Management Theory (a Fragmenta event), Ghajn Tuffieha Tower, Il-Mellieha, Malta/ HOMO MELITENSIS: AN INCOMPLETE INVENTORY IN 19 CHAPTERS, Malta Pavilion - La Biennale di Venezia, Arsenale, Venice, Italy, IN TRANSIT: Contemporary Media Art by Artists from Malta, NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, Germany & Stadskantoor, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.