G OX WA.

2 | This is the title PP” x PP”

axelle.com

cover | The Kiss 63½” x 51” above | Wedding shoes 31¾” x 25½” opposite | Sunset 45½” x 35”

G OX WA.

Awakening 76½” x 38” | 3Girl in the garden 51” x 32”

There is clearly something in Goxwa’s painting

which attracts people at first glance. The sources

of the attraction, however, are not easy to iden-

tify just as her work cannot readily be classified

into in any school or style. Bob Wernick, a close

friend of the artist, tells a story to illustrate the

mystifying allure of her work. While walking

down the rue de Seine in Paris on his way to the

opening of a Goxwa Borg show, he found him-

self following a little group of art-lovers lead

by a young man playing the role of tour guide,

offering explanations of the artwork along the

way. He stopped at a window, pointed inside and

said, “Conceptualism.” The followers all stopped,

looked, nodded, and walked on. At the next gal-

lery window it was “Minimalism,” and again they

all stopped, looked and nodded and walked on.

When they arrived at the work of Goxwa at Gal-

erie de l’Europe, the young man found no words

to say. After a moment of silently gazing at her

paintings his followers all walked in the door.

In her work, Goxwa combines highly individual

colors, wonderfully thick textures of oil and wax

and a light that you will find nowhere else. She

draws inspiration for this light from many sources;

from Malta, her native land, from the walls of

Pompeii, from the Mediterranean surely, and from

certain skies of Paris, where she currently lives.

Viewing her work often generates more questions

than answers for the beholder; who are these

people? To what time period do these figures

belong? And what exactly are they doing? Nev-

ertheless, her subjects hold a very strong alluring

presence; one is drawn to the mystery floating in

every painting.

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At rest 38” x 51” | 5Green glove 57’x 44¾”

Similarly with her subjects one is never really sure if they are appearing or disappearing, emerging from or fading into the warm, rich

textures of the background. “Walls,” says Goxwa, “are like masks, simultaneously concealing and revealing the living beings behind them.”

The backgrounds of her paintings are mottled with splashes of color and seemingly disordered etchings, which represent her walls.

Goxwa paints with a palette knife, using the tool just as the word ‘knife’ would imply. She is fencing with the canvas flat against the

wall, using the hard instrument to produce the most delicate beauty. We can only imagine the amount of effort it must have taken to

produce an impression, the sparkle of an eye, the soft light of day, with the tip of a sword.

Although a certain “fresco” effect has always marked the work of Goxwa, new forms are constantly appearing in her paintings. We find

in her new work vaults or circles that frame faces, leading the spectator to wonder if he is seeing a subject or its reflection, never sure

of just how much “representation” is at work. Her women, flowers, birds, boats, landscapes and monuments all form something like an

archeology of sensuality, the bases of the subtle force of beauty which outwits time.

– Olivier Renault

6 | Petit

e mar

chan

de d

e fleu

rs 6

3¾” x

38”

Tall vase 47” x 23½” | 7

8 | Roman vase 51” x 38” An offering 47” x 47” | 9Old chair 51” x 38”

10 | Calypso 76¾” x 38” 47” x 23½” Flowers | 11

12 | Innocence 59” x 19½” Black vase 47” x 23½” | 13

14 | About to fly 21½” x 18”

Tree 31¾” x 25½”

©2012 GOXWA. All paintings oil & wax on canvas.

Solo Exhibitions

2011 Galerie Felli

2010 Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, New York

Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, Boston

2009 Galerie Felli, Paris

2008 Axelle Fine Arts Galerie, Chelsea, New York

2007 Galerie Felli, Paris

2006 Axelle Fine arts Galerie Soho, New York

2005 Axelle Fine Arts Galerie Soho, New York

2005 Axelle Fine Arts Galerie de l’Europe, San Francisco

2005 Galerie Felli, Paris

2003 Axelle Fine Arts Galerie Soho, New York

2002 Galerie de l’Europe, Paris

Foire d’Art Contemporain, Strasbourg

2001 Galerie de l’Europe, Paris

Studio de l’Image, Paris

2000 Galerie de l’Europe, Paris

1998 Galerie Christine Colas et Pascal Odille - Paris 8th International Show Contempory Music Art Show - Angers

1997 Galerie Christine Colas

1996 Commission Européenne, Malta Delegation - Paris Bedford Gallery, Virginia

1995 Cité Internationale des Arts - Paris

1994 Malta Embassy - Paris

1993 The Harvest, Cambridge, Massachussetts

Awards & Recognitions

1993-94 Resident Fellow at Cité Internationale des Arts – Paris

1993 Resident Fellow at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

1990 Harvard Extension Scholarship in Directing

1986-87 Emerson College Scholarship

Other Exposure

2011 Malta Independent, Nov article by Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci

ArtsThree, Oct article by Marie-Laure Despardis

2009 Miroir de l’Art Magazine, six page editorial

2009 The painting “Pride” featured prominently in “Mademoiselle Chambon” a movie by Stéphane Brizé with Sandrine Kiberlain and Vincent Lindon

1998 Review, Robert Wernick, Sunday Times, Malta

1997 Painting cover art, Mistero Buffo, Dario Fo, Publishers Enterprises Group

Review, Robert Wernick, Sunday Times, Malta

1996 Review, Patrice de la Perrière, Univers des Arts, Dec-Jan Issue Charcoals featured with poetry of Andrei Fitaine, Epitalamju, Il mument, Malta

1994 Painting for cover art, poetry of Rick Lyons, B.O.A. Publishers Review, Rick Lyons, Sunday Times, Malta

1993 Painting for cover art, Large scale theories of the brain, MIT Press

1990 Artwork for Album cover End of an Era, Alfonso Villalonga Design Times : The style of New England, Sep-Oct issue Painting and fresco featured in Rain Forest: proving their worth, WGBH-TV (PBS)

1989 Painting featured Proyecto Letimaren, Cultural Survival (Ecuador, USA) Review, The Primitive Syndrome, E. Fiorentino, Sunday Times, Malta

Theater

1994 Present Acting Instructor - Paris

1990 Playwright, The Whore’s Child

1989 Director, Emerson College Loft Production of The Maids (Genet)

1986 Creator, Director, Actor in Il Holma (The Dream) performance piece, Emerson

C U R R I C U L U M

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16 | Silver glass 39” x 19½” Red ribbon 76¾” x 38” | 17

Reflection 51” x 38”