Christopher Saliba is one of the established Maltese artist who still explore the unlimited possibilities abstract art could offer. Like other artists Saliba underwent professional training in an academic art institution. In fact, during the years 1997 and 2001 he developed the technical skills in various mediums at the Accademia di Belle Arti “Pietro Vannucci” in Perugia, Italy. After his studies abroad, in 2002 Saliba held his first personal exhibition in Gozo, his birthplace. This is his 10th personal art show entitled “Introspections”.
I believe that a successful work of art can restore to its perceivers aspects of experience that were previously unavailable or unrecognisable. We know that perception is a key concept in contemporary aesthetics. Saliba’s works address qualities in abstraction that lead the viewers to their own interpretations. For a lengthy period he worked more on the representational aspect of the landscape, until 2006, when he showed for the first time to the general public another aspect of his repertoire, that of transforming the landscape into abstracted spaces and synthesised forms.
Most of these works are not simply an abstracted re-interpretation of the visual sources that attract the artist but also an expression of the unconscious. I consider that Saliba’s latest works are a reflection of his inner vision and the spiritual condition of humankind, and therefore possess a significant symbolic content. For instance, circular configurations often recur with strong symbolic connotations. In Untitled IX and Untitled XII Saliba focuses on the circular form as a major element within the composition. As stated by various psychoanalysts and art historians, the circle is a symbol of the psyche whereas the square and the rectangle are symbols of earthbound matter, of the body and reality. In his work Saliba does not make any distinction between these two primary forms. It is rather his urge to bring to consciousness the basic factors of life that really matters, symbolised by these primary forms.
Eric Neumann argues that “We find in modern painting a strange mixture, a unity of world and psyche, in which fragments of landscapes, cubes, circles, forms, colours, parts of human figures, organic and inorganic components, curves, tatters of dreams, memories, deconcretised objects and concretised symbols seem to float in a strange continuum.” It is precisely this lure that entices artists like Saliba to search for an alternative expression and feel the need to create “a psychic realm”.
We know that art is not solely concerned with beauty or with aesthetic pleasure, that is, with images of objects that appear in our external world. Artists like Saliba also seek to express the non-objective work coming from the ‘inside’ world. The precursor of the “unconscious”, C.G. Jung, declares that the ‘inside’ cannot correspond to consciousness since consciousness contains objects that are generally perceptible. However, though ‘the inside’ is not visible and cannot be imagined it can still affect consciousness.
When we look closely at Christopher Saliba’s canvases we notice that there is always a point of departure: the exploration of light that manifests itself within organised structures or contrasting spaces. In some instances, light appears to invade the oppressive, massive and darker spaces, giving us a new sense of interiority. Occasionally, horizontal and vertical bands of colour take the shape of a vortex in an oval shape or at times in a spiral form. Dark and light blues, yellows, ochres and a range of reds dominate his rich palette. Twists and currents of fluid colour dissolve into a hazy atmosphere as we find in Untitled XVII, Untitled XVIII and Untitled XIX. Each canvas evokes a specific instance of play of openness and closure, expansion and contraction. The artist successfully creates the static embodiment of space materialised into coarsely and textured surfaces.
The legacy the great abstract expressionist artists, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, left behind them still influences artists like Saliba. As pointed out by Professor Kenneth Wain in the previous exhibition catalogue Of Time and Timelessness, Saliba’s paintings are indicative of the “contemplative approach” of Rothko and “some of the techniques of action painting” of Pollock. In this collection of paintings, colour is once again freed from any objective context and becomes the subject in itself. Expansive colour fields are bound by crude but defined lines; imperfections, threads of light, scars and fissures of accumulated time are brushed into the layered medium.
Today the art of Christopher Saliba does not limit itself to the medium of painting. He also makes use of drawing, etching, sculpture, digital photography, installation and video art. He experiments continuously to pursue his life-long artistic journey of self-discovery and an aesthetic vision that mirrors the cultural values of contemporary society.
Dr. Louis Lagana' in Introspections, artist's publication, 2010.
Dr. Louis Lagana' is a lecturer in Fine Arts and Art History at the Junior College, and also lectures on Art, Culture and Tourism with the Tourism Studies Department at the University of Malta (FEMA). He is also a practising artist, art historian and critic and specialises in Modern and Contemporary Art. His papers were delivered in many conferences abroad and published in learned journals and newspapers.
I believe that a successful work of art can restore to its perceivers aspects of experience that were previously unavailable or unrecognisable. We know that perception is a key concept in contemporary aesthetics. Saliba’s works address qualities in abstraction that lead the viewers to their own interpretations. For a lengthy period he worked more on the representational aspect of the landscape, until 2006, when he showed for the first time to the general public another aspect of his repertoire, that of transforming the landscape into abstracted spaces and synthesised forms.
Most of these works are not simply an abstracted re-interpretation of the visual sources that attract the artist but also an expression of the unconscious. I consider that Saliba’s latest works are a reflection of his inner vision and the spiritual condition of humankind, and therefore possess a significant symbolic content. For instance, circular configurations often recur with strong symbolic connotations. In Untitled IX and Untitled XII Saliba focuses on the circular form as a major element within the composition. As stated by various psychoanalysts and art historians, the circle is a symbol of the psyche whereas the square and the rectangle are symbols of earthbound matter, of the body and reality. In his work Saliba does not make any distinction between these two primary forms. It is rather his urge to bring to consciousness the basic factors of life that really matters, symbolised by these primary forms.
Eric Neumann argues that “We find in modern painting a strange mixture, a unity of world and psyche, in which fragments of landscapes, cubes, circles, forms, colours, parts of human figures, organic and inorganic components, curves, tatters of dreams, memories, deconcretised objects and concretised symbols seem to float in a strange continuum.” It is precisely this lure that entices artists like Saliba to search for an alternative expression and feel the need to create “a psychic realm”.
We know that art is not solely concerned with beauty or with aesthetic pleasure, that is, with images of objects that appear in our external world. Artists like Saliba also seek to express the non-objective work coming from the ‘inside’ world. The precursor of the “unconscious”, C.G. Jung, declares that the ‘inside’ cannot correspond to consciousness since consciousness contains objects that are generally perceptible. However, though ‘the inside’ is not visible and cannot be imagined it can still affect consciousness.
When we look closely at Christopher Saliba’s canvases we notice that there is always a point of departure: the exploration of light that manifests itself within organised structures or contrasting spaces. In some instances, light appears to invade the oppressive, massive and darker spaces, giving us a new sense of interiority. Occasionally, horizontal and vertical bands of colour take the shape of a vortex in an oval shape or at times in a spiral form. Dark and light blues, yellows, ochres and a range of reds dominate his rich palette. Twists and currents of fluid colour dissolve into a hazy atmosphere as we find in Untitled XVII, Untitled XVIII and Untitled XIX. Each canvas evokes a specific instance of play of openness and closure, expansion and contraction. The artist successfully creates the static embodiment of space materialised into coarsely and textured surfaces.
The legacy the great abstract expressionist artists, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, left behind them still influences artists like Saliba. As pointed out by Professor Kenneth Wain in the previous exhibition catalogue Of Time and Timelessness, Saliba’s paintings are indicative of the “contemplative approach” of Rothko and “some of the techniques of action painting” of Pollock. In this collection of paintings, colour is once again freed from any objective context and becomes the subject in itself. Expansive colour fields are bound by crude but defined lines; imperfections, threads of light, scars and fissures of accumulated time are brushed into the layered medium.
Today the art of Christopher Saliba does not limit itself to the medium of painting. He also makes use of drawing, etching, sculpture, digital photography, installation and video art. He experiments continuously to pursue his life-long artistic journey of self-discovery and an aesthetic vision that mirrors the cultural values of contemporary society.
Dr. Louis Lagana' in Introspections, artist's publication, 2010.
Dr. Louis Lagana' is a lecturer in Fine Arts and Art History at the Junior College, and also lectures on Art, Culture and Tourism with the Tourism Studies Department at the University of Malta (FEMA). He is also a practising artist, art historian and critic and specialises in Modern and Contemporary Art. His papers were delivered in many conferences abroad and published in learned journals and newspapers.