Joseph Casha: a Maltese sculptor inspired by fantasy and reality

On the 10th anniversary since the passing of sculptor Joseph Casha, Joseph Agius talks to the artist’s youngest daughter Alison Casha, his brother Louis Casha, best friend Paul Haber and art critic Louis Laganà about the legacy he left behind.
The work of sculptor Joseph Casha (1939-2011) originates from an admiration for the 20th century art movement of surrealism.

The landscapes of Max Ernst, one of the major protagonists of this celebrated movement, exhibit decaying fantasy landscapes, ‘forests’ of totemic formations, fragmented trees, as well as anthropomorphic and biomorphic organic forms.
Casha’s most recent sculptures similarly portray this fusion of motifs, as expressed by art critic Louis Laganà: “Casha uses the essential parts of human anatomy to develop themes which express ‘primitive’ images like totems and archaic figures derived from the collective unconscious.
“Typical characteristics of Casha’s forms are the pointed structure, cone or spiral.”
Laganà further adds: “Casha’s conical spirals are usually constructed with pointed arched doors and windows leading to rooms and spaces without a definite destination.
“In myths and dreams, images of structures of castles,...