Christopher Saliba’s painting has come a long way since October of last year, 2005 when he exhibited a set of paintings titled ‘Silent Places’ in Gozo. Those paintings were landscapes in the conventional style representing recognisable landscapes in Gozo and Comino. They were followed up in May of this year, 2006, by another exhibition ‘Impressions’ in Malta at Cleland and Souchet where his style continued to be conventional. The brochure for the first exhibition described him as a “passionate landscape painter,” fascinated by his native land but interested not in “mere natural reproductions,” but in creating ‘atmosphere’; as the name of the exhibition implies one of contemplative silence related to the “mysterious and the primordial.” The brochure also described him as a ‘romantic’ and an expressionist, thereby placing him within a particular strand of modernism.
Not much in the artist’s outlook has changed substantially since then. Saliba still sees himself as an expressionist inspired by natural forms, particularly those around him, interested in ‘transcending’ them, in creating ‘atmosphere’, in imbuing them with his own meaning rather than replicating them faithfully on a canvas. What appears to have changed, and radically, in the very few months since May is his style; the landscape painter has turned abstract, a predictable step in his evolution as an artist. What may not have been so predictable is the speed with which this transformation has taken place. But, in fact, the artist has long been familiar with the idiom of abstract expressionism, has obviously studied the works of its main protagonists closely, and at first hand, and has been quietly working away at it for the past two years or so.
In this new exhibition the theme he engages with is ‘Time and Timelessness’. The works exhibited are undated because they are the product of a developing project that occurred over those two years not, as one would have supposed on the evidence of his exhibitions, of some short energetic burst of painting. They are hung in chronological sequence in the exhibition, as a series, in order to make explicit the trajectory the project took, the development of the basic concept that informs them; the relation, as the name of the exhibition indicates, between the temporal, more or less what is fixed, and the timeless, what is still open, which the paintings try to explore. The impression one receives in following the sequence is that initially the artist was more attracted to the studied contemplative approach with which a Rothko (well aware of time) would explore the theme than to the dynamic action painting of a Pollock dedicated exclusively to the timeless. He needs, as he says himself, to be able to step back from the painting frequently to work out what’s going on in it. I say ‘initially’ because the later work in the series shows a more than tentative move towards using some of the techniques of action painting, especially the controlled running of the paint on the canvas – towards Pollock.
‘Going on,’ is the operative word in abstract art. The abstract work doesn’t represent. Its meaning, if it has one, lies within itself. It narrates nothing but its own story. Perhaps a good way to describe it is as pure energy, even when it is not the obvious energy of an action painting but the more subdued energy of a Rothko. The abstract artist’s energy comes from a restless interest in exploration, not simply of the material but of the conceptual also. Both are recognisable feature of these paintings displayed by Saliba. The sense of excitement the artist experiences in uncovering new forms, creating a new iconography for himself, a new language of communication with the viewer, is evident in the freshness of the works. The earlier in the series show a continuing dependence on the colours that defined his landscape work; red, blue, and molten ochres, but the later ones become more experimental as his palette opens up with his confidence.
Conceptually, Saliba explores the tension between the static and the dynamic in nature, between permanence and change. Every step in his earlier work in the series is deliberate; square and oblong patches form the basic iconography – not geometric and precise in the way of a Mondrian but plastic and fuzzy, thickly textured, and enriched with scratchings that are patterned in diverse and studied ways, encouraging close scrutiny. The issue to be solved in this kind of painting is that of movement, of how to create it within the composition. The earlier works of the series feature predominantly dark colour combinations closely graded and the composition is dense. The movement here is obtained with sweeping curves, sweeps of colour transversing the canvas horizontally, connected in some cases with thick diagonally running paint that tightens the composition.
The earlier works with the darker brooding shades and turgid forms and structures are weighed down by the temporal, the later works are freer as Saliba breaks out and becomes more adventurous. One sees a shift in these later works towards lighter more transparent colours, looser compositions; a move towards the timeless. A lot more is going on in these later paintings than in the earlier. The freedom of the composition reflects an artist growing more daring and confident. It marks a significant and promising development in his style. Suddenly he seems to have discovered the value of contrast, of volume and space and the outcome is a more dynamic product and a richer iconography.
Professor Kenneth Wain, Forwarde in the artist's publication of the catalogue Of Time and Timelessness, October 2006.
Not much in the artist’s outlook has changed substantially since then. Saliba still sees himself as an expressionist inspired by natural forms, particularly those around him, interested in ‘transcending’ them, in creating ‘atmosphere’, in imbuing them with his own meaning rather than replicating them faithfully on a canvas. What appears to have changed, and radically, in the very few months since May is his style; the landscape painter has turned abstract, a predictable step in his evolution as an artist. What may not have been so predictable is the speed with which this transformation has taken place. But, in fact, the artist has long been familiar with the idiom of abstract expressionism, has obviously studied the works of its main protagonists closely, and at first hand, and has been quietly working away at it for the past two years or so.
In this new exhibition the theme he engages with is ‘Time and Timelessness’. The works exhibited are undated because they are the product of a developing project that occurred over those two years not, as one would have supposed on the evidence of his exhibitions, of some short energetic burst of painting. They are hung in chronological sequence in the exhibition, as a series, in order to make explicit the trajectory the project took, the development of the basic concept that informs them; the relation, as the name of the exhibition indicates, between the temporal, more or less what is fixed, and the timeless, what is still open, which the paintings try to explore. The impression one receives in following the sequence is that initially the artist was more attracted to the studied contemplative approach with which a Rothko (well aware of time) would explore the theme than to the dynamic action painting of a Pollock dedicated exclusively to the timeless. He needs, as he says himself, to be able to step back from the painting frequently to work out what’s going on in it. I say ‘initially’ because the later work in the series shows a more than tentative move towards using some of the techniques of action painting, especially the controlled running of the paint on the canvas – towards Pollock.
‘Going on,’ is the operative word in abstract art. The abstract work doesn’t represent. Its meaning, if it has one, lies within itself. It narrates nothing but its own story. Perhaps a good way to describe it is as pure energy, even when it is not the obvious energy of an action painting but the more subdued energy of a Rothko. The abstract artist’s energy comes from a restless interest in exploration, not simply of the material but of the conceptual also. Both are recognisable feature of these paintings displayed by Saliba. The sense of excitement the artist experiences in uncovering new forms, creating a new iconography for himself, a new language of communication with the viewer, is evident in the freshness of the works. The earlier in the series show a continuing dependence on the colours that defined his landscape work; red, blue, and molten ochres, but the later ones become more experimental as his palette opens up with his confidence.
Conceptually, Saliba explores the tension between the static and the dynamic in nature, between permanence and change. Every step in his earlier work in the series is deliberate; square and oblong patches form the basic iconography – not geometric and precise in the way of a Mondrian but plastic and fuzzy, thickly textured, and enriched with scratchings that are patterned in diverse and studied ways, encouraging close scrutiny. The issue to be solved in this kind of painting is that of movement, of how to create it within the composition. The earlier works of the series feature predominantly dark colour combinations closely graded and the composition is dense. The movement here is obtained with sweeping curves, sweeps of colour transversing the canvas horizontally, connected in some cases with thick diagonally running paint that tightens the composition.
The earlier works with the darker brooding shades and turgid forms and structures are weighed down by the temporal, the later works are freer as Saliba breaks out and becomes more adventurous. One sees a shift in these later works towards lighter more transparent colours, looser compositions; a move towards the timeless. A lot more is going on in these later paintings than in the earlier. The freedom of the composition reflects an artist growing more daring and confident. It marks a significant and promising development in his style. Suddenly he seems to have discovered the value of contrast, of volume and space and the outcome is a more dynamic product and a richer iconography.
Professor Kenneth Wain, Forwarde in the artist's publication of the catalogue Of Time and Timelessness, October 2006.
