Landschaft 2014 is a collection of landscapes that are boldly reinterpreted through Jesmond Vassallo’s paintbrush. Marc Buhagiar finds out more.

An exhibition by Jesmond Vassallo titled Landschaft 2014 is on display at the German-Maltese Circle, Valletta, until October 31.

Vassallo’s landscapes are visual pieces of poetry crafted by brush strokes and infused with colour. Through his craft, he reimagines the Maltese land-scape as we know it, giving it a fresh perspective.

As evidenced by his current exhibition Vassallo does everything from scratch, right down to his canvas.

Rather than buying ready-made canvas, the artist goes to painstaking lengths to construct his very own, using an imprimatura technique reminiscent of 14th-century paintings. This allows him to decide the base colour of the canvas.

Vassallo creates his breath-taking paintings from sketches he draws in his tiny sketchbook, with the landscapes he produces being more interpretations than accurate descriptions.

“Paintings can’t compete with photography. It is impossible as the latter has evolved so much. I feel there has to be a certain element of mystery within the painting,” he says.

Back in secondary school, Vassallo used to create highly stylised landscapes and, since then, has developed his technique and learned to filter what goes into his work.

While studying Fine Arts at the Accamedia di Belle Arti di Carrara, he used to regularly draw the Carrara mountains which surrounded him, though he never developed these drawings into paintings.

Wied il-Mielaħ 2Wied il-Mielaħ 2

Most of his Landschaft 2014 paintings feature landscapes around Malta and Gozo such as Wied Il-Mielaħ and Ir-Ramla l-Ħamra, as well as the Mosta Bridge, a spectacular view which unfolds just outside his studio window.

Nature clearly inspires his work. He regularly goes trekking and walking in the countryside.

“I prefer quiet surroundings over big cities such as Paris or London. I’ve been to New York but I’d prefer to go somewhere like the Dolomites,” he says with a laugh.

Peaceful natural environments are attractive to Vassallo as they give him something unique to include in his paintings. “I’d like to relive certain scenes over and over again. I feel immersed in that environment and this leads me to immortalise that moment and to pass it on in my landscapes.”

Paintings can’t compete with photography. It is impossible, as the latter has evolved so much

However, it isn’t just nature that he captures as certain landscapes feature buildings in them. In this exhibition, nature and building coexist together harmoniously.

This can be seen in the haunting image of Mosta Bridge Nocturne, a beautifully dark scene of Mosta Bridge by night, with yellow street lights and cranes in the background. In his previous exhibition, which took place last April at Opus 64 Galerie in Sliema, Vassallo adopted a satirical approach in his incorporation of buildings.

This time around, however, both the buildings and nature contribute to the poetry of the piece.

Buildings, he adds, are part of our urban landscape. They play a part in the narrative. They shouldn’t be idealised nor stigmatised.

Vassallo says that for him painting is an old medium which he uses to talk about things that are happening today. Urban development is a contemporary issue; so naturally it also features in his work.

Indicating the view from his studio window, he says: “My point of departure is what I see here. I work directly from here and this is my frame. Over there, there are the cranes and I think there’s actually a new one.”

This last remark, he ends with a laugh. He registers the small-est detail in the area, be it trees, cranes or buildings and incorporates this in his work.

Asked about the message in his pieces, he pauses. “There isn’t always one message behind a work. I mostly enjoy listening to people’s interpretations. I’m fascinated with what people feel and think. It’s from their reactions that I know that I’ve successfully conveyed a message.”

He emphasises that each piece has its own unique message. “However, every composition you choose to construct it, narrates something new. I don’t work with one concept which I apply to all my pieces. Each work is autonomous and the painting should speak for itself.”

A multiplicity of artists, both local and foreign, have influenced his work to date. He mentions Esprit Barthet, Antoine Camilleri, Gabriel Caruana, Raymond Pitre and Pawl Carbonaro. He adds that he learnt a substantial amount from Carbonaro as he spent considerable time at Carbonaro’s studio helping him print his works.

A variety of Italian artists also influence him, as did Mark Rothko, an American abstract expressionist who is famous for blending vivid colours together in his work. Vassallo notes that some of his work carries hints of abstract in-fluence, though they are not completely abstract.

Interestingly, Vassallo doesn’t think of himself as an artist but more of a craftsman or artisan. “It is work and it requires skill. I prefer to think of it as a craft, like working with aluminium or building a door.”

Landschaft 2014 is an impressive collection of oil paintings, but why does he use oil? Vassallo says oil is quite unparalleled to other painting mediums because of its high quality and the luminosity it produces on the canvas.

What’s his next step? Though he certainly won’t abandon painting, he plans to focus more on sculpting next.

Currently, Vassallo is going through his collection of drawings and selecting which could be adapted for sculpting and which sculpting material is suitable. Certain figures, he explains, work better with marble whereas others work better with bronze, clay and the like. Vassallo is also planning an exhibition featuring glass.

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