Currently on show at Spazju Kreattiv, Chronicles in Colour is a retrospective exhibition of James Vella Clark’s artistic journey over more than two decades. Fifty-two works, primarily executed in acrylics, have been carefully selected to represent keys stage in the artists’ creative evolution. Garden in the Sun (2023), for example, was a milestone along his journey towards abstraction.
Vella Clark’s style has developed significantly over time. From urban-inspired beginnings and expressionist landscapes deeply rooted in place and personal memory, over time his focus shifted to more conceptual and emotional landscapes with symbolism as their central theme. He employs, for example, the dome and steeple overlooking the landscape as the male and female; the cypress tree and then the palm tree serve a symbol for human resilience, and specific hues represent particular moods.
Over time these landscapes began merging with abstraction to form a distinctive visual language, but Vella Clark’s underlying theme remained constant: “most landscapes reinterpret my personal memory, identity, and instinct,” he explains.
The seasons have also always inspired Vella Clark – he describes how when the weather is fresh and crisp all the colours look better and he feels happier.
“Colour has always been central to my work: from the earthy tones inspired by the Maltese stone and architecture, to the deep blues of the Mediterranean, and the increasingly vibrant, experimental palette of recent years,” he continues. “My colour choices serve not only an aesthetic role but are deeply emotional, intended to both evoke my state of being and to open a door for the viewer’s emotional engagement.”
Chronicles in Colour unfolds almost like a diary in chapters. Each piece captures a moment in time and reflects his changing internal world. The earlier works are more structured while recent pieces embody a sense of urgency and immediacy—a raw, instinctive form of abstraction that mirrors Vella Clark’s current mindset and the acceleration of life he feels.
In recent years whilst he remains focused on capturing an emotional truth—whether through place, memory or pure abstraction – Vella Clark has worked on larger canvases, mirroring the expanding emotional scope of the work.
Alongside several previously unseen pieces from Vella Clark’s personal collection – each of which signifies a particular milestone in the artist’s creative evolution – and others kindly loaned from private collections, Chronicles in Coloues also includes ten new works: three new landscapes, two self-portraits and two still-lifes.
“These new works, especially the abstracts, are perhaps the most immediate and instinctive I’ve ever produced,” says James. “They represent my current artistic voice, one driven less by deliberate intent and more by emotional urgency and personal reflection.”
Of particular note, Construction (2025) is the largest piece in this collection. In this work Vella Clark presents a visceral response to Malta’s rapid and often ruthless transformation at the hands of development. The painting’s forceful brushwork and intense palette — dominated by aggressive strokes of pink, ochre, and cobalt — evoke the raw violence of machinery against land. On the left, a looming form resembling a crane asserts itself as a symbol of intrusion, a ‘heavy hand’ tearing through the landscape that was always the artist’s source of inspiration. The urgent, expressive brushwork and the bold, clashing planes of colour evoke a terrain under siege and the immediacy of the artist’s technique mirrors the irreversible speed at which change is occurring. This powerful work stands as both a personal lament and a stark critique of a country at risk of erasing its own natural and cultural identity.
The new works on show also include Marsamxett (2025) which has a sense of foreboding in the choice and colours and faded application of colours. “These are representative of my detachment with a city that I no longer recognize and am prepared to leave,” he explains.
Unexpectedly for Vella Clark, because still lifes are very rare in his repertoire, the exhibition also includes a painting of a line of bottles on a table. It’s titled Family Portrait (2025), and Vella Clark explains that, to him, it is more than a still life. “each object is like a person – hence family portrait,” he smiles.
I’m OK Now (2025) was one of the latest pieces completed for this exhibition. Notwithstanding his past personal struggles, documented in part exhibitions, Vella Clark describes how he is currently in a good place in life and ready for a new chapter. We have no doubt it will be colourful too!
And Chronicles in Colour is more than simply a retrospective. It’s a personal and human conversation about change, resilience, and the power of colour to communicate what words cannot.
“I hope that this exhibition will also contribute meaningfully to our evolving sense of Maltese identity and culture, and that viewers walk away seeing something of themselves reflected in the work,” concludes Vella Clark.
Chronicles in Colour runs at Spazju Kreattiv until June 22.
An exhibition catalogue will be launched in coming weeks.
It was supported by Antes Insurance Brokers, Ganado Advocates, Calamatta Cuschieri Moneybase, Corporate ID Group and Aromi D Vini.
