THE ARTIST
Vanni Pulé was born in the small boating village of Kalkara, in the south of Malta, a miniscule island-nation between Sicily and Tripoli. His early influences in art were his older brother and mother who were both quite adept at drawing and painting. His early presents consisted mostly of watercolours, pencils and drawing books which he filled with his doodles, drawings and caricatures. In Secondary school, art was not an option since only the classes that were inferior academically could choose art. Yet he managed to get his Art "O" Level without any lessons. At the age of thirteen he already had strip cartoons published regularly in a daily newspaper.
VANNI PULE'
A Versatile Artist
Vanni Pulé was born in the small boating village of Kalkara, in the south of Malta, a miniscule island-nation between Sicily and Tripoli. His early influences in art were his older brother and mother who were both quite adept at drawing and painting. His early presents consisted mostly of watercolours, pencils and drawing books which he filled with his doodles, drawings and caricatures. In Secondary school, art was not an option since only the classes that were inferior academically could choose art. Yet he managed to get his Art "O" Level without any lessons. At the age of thirteen he already had strip cartoons published regularly in a daily newspaper.
He continued painting but his performance of magic and illusions took over a large chunk of his schedule. Eventually he joined various groups of artists experiment and studying under Anna Spiteri, Anton Calleja and Harry Alden. He also joined a course on Mixed Media at Central St Martin's in London. He participated in various joint and solo exhibitions. His latest one was at Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier in Valletta.
Nowadays, the Artist likes to experiment with pencil, charcoal, watercolour and oils, but his favourite medium is acrylics. His style is eclectic and he does not like to be categorised and restrained by art fashion or by being pigeonholed.
In his early college days he was obsessed with the great Maltese artists of the sixties and used to visit regularly the exhibitions at the Bank of Alderney in Valletta. At University, his drawings, especially, his caricatures of lecturers and professors, were seen all over the campus. The students' magazine included them and most of the chalkboards sported a cartoon of some professor or others as did the corners of his lecture notes. On rag day, his caricatures could be seen on large buntings. When the new University was inaugurated by Prince Charles, a huge banner displaying a caricature of the Prince and other dignitaries raised some hackles. This notoriety, albeit his quiet nature, drove him towards becoming the cartoonist for the 'Sunday Times of Malta'. This was short lived because it was a very hot political climate and, as soon as his identity was revealed, he did not enjoy the hostility and political exposure.
