GABRIEL A. PELLEGRINI: JAMES VELLA CLARK

JAMES VELLA CLARK AND ALFRED CHRICOP

"Dead Palm Tree” was the theme of my latest exhibition featuring a collection of 15 recent works, mainly landscapes shown at Lily Agius Gallery in Sliema. The exhibition was open to the public between the 3rd and the 24th November.

The exhibition was kindly supported by FFF Legal, Bank of Valletta, The Malta Independent and Marques de Casa Concha wines.

An unusual recurrent use of green tones dominates the bigger part of this collection. The composition in most paintings is still structured however, the overall style remains somewhat abstracted and highly spontaneous. It is a style that can be easily defined as ‘structured abstraction’ conveying the message that whilst the artist wants to remain in control, there is a lot of ‘letting go’. Surrendering to the flow whilst wanting to remain in control creates an unusual balance.

Notwithstanding all this, my landscapes retain the predominant features that have defined my work over the past years. The landscape is still dominated by the archaic church cupolas, a constant reminder of our mediterranean submissive nature to our belief that gives us a false sense of moral security, the colours, still mediterranean, the surface still heavily textured and the perennial palm tree, symbol of man’s spirit of perseverance amidst the different landscapes of life.

My first palm tree sprouted somewhere in 2008, replacing the cypress tree which had been present in many landscapes before. Since then, this detail in many of my works has redefined itself as representational of individuals living particular circumstances, within their own personal context. Dead Palm Tree is not about death, it’s about acknowledging that whoever we are and whatever we do, no matter how much we persevere and no matter how infallable we may think we are, we all die. And as I look at this collection and see how my style is evolving, this theme becomes also representative of the end of a phase and the birth of a new one.

My small paintings are very intimate as they invite the viewer to move closer to the work and become part of the experience that I want to share.