Joël Circhanski-Deleuze’s debut solo exhibition in Malta, Vibrant Forces: Nature in Living Colour, presents a vivid interplay between the rational and the emotional, the architectural and the organic.

While Circhanski-Deleuze may not seek to convey a narrative in the traditional sense, his overlapping and merging of these creatures evoke a sense of unity and interconnectedness – a central theme throughout the exhibition and an essential part of his visual language.

At first glance, the decorative appeal of his paintings is immediately apparent, but upon closer inspection, one can appreciate the interplay of form, colour and structure. Each painting is composed with an almost architectural precision.

Artist Joël Circhanski-Deleuze

However, the geometric framework that underpins his work does not inhibit the artist from creating a dynamic tension between geometric rigour and abstract expressionist exuberance.

Circhanski-Deleuze continues the long tradition of foreign artists who take up residence in Malta and find themselves creatively stimulated by the island’s characteristic features. Within the modernist tradition, Frank Stella was one of the most renowned international artists to have been directly inspired by Malta’s physiognomy as a subject springboard towards abstraction.

His stay in Malta in the 1980s inspired several large-scale reliefs based on various locations around the Maltese Islands, which became known as the Malta Series. Just as Stella’s Malta Series is an abstract evocation of Maltese locations, Circhanski-Deleuze’s works draw inspiration from Malta’s Mediterranean environment. Both artists employ a fusion of the geometric and the organic.

Another of the artworks.

However, while Stella abstracts Malta’s architectural physiognomy into large, three-dimensional forms, Circhanski-Deleuze abstracts elements from Malta’s natural environment. Unlike Stella, who titles his works with reference to specific Maltese locations, such as Żonqor Point (1983), Mellieħa Bay (1983) and Żejtun (1983), Circhanski-Deleuze prefers the anonymity of untitled pieces.

One of the most striking aspects is his use of the colours of Malta and the Mediterranean

Malta’s natural environment is a key feature of Circhanski-Deleuze’s exhibition. However, the artist does not depict elements from nature in a figurative manner.  Instead, he integrates them into powerful and evocative compositions. Birds and sea creatures are thus abstracted and stylised through the artist’s inner vision, appearing on the canvas as mosaic-like silhouettes.

Camouflaged within layers of abstraction, these evocations function figuratively – albeit in an abstract sense – within an otherwise non-figurative context. Through this concept of abstract narrative, Circhanski-Deleuze reclaims for painting as much narrative possibility as can exist within abstract imagery.

This process ultimately serves more as a catalyst for the artist’s imagination rather than a direct narrative for the viewer, highlighting his ability to transform his insights from the natural world into powerful, non-representational art.

One of the most striking aspects of Circhanski-Deleuze’s work is his use of the colours of Malta and the Mediterranean. His bold, tropical hues are inspired by the landscapes and textures encountered during his extensive travels, including the Mediterranean environment of his current home in Malta.

The artist uses the colours of Malta and the Mediterranean.

His Mediterranean palette aligns with the works of Maltese artist Gabriel Caruana and Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine. For Circhanski-Deleuze, as for Caruana and Mahieddine, colour is more about emotional immediacy and connection to surroundings than a tool for spiritual transcendence. Unlike the spiritual aspirations of early abstractionists like Kandinsky or Mondrian, Circhanski-Deleuze utilises colour as a decorative, vernacular element – enhancing the visual impact of his intricate layers rather than conveying spiritual meaning.

It is not easy to tread a path well-beaten by early modernists and still be able to exploit its possibilities.  However, in Vibrant Forces: Nature in Living Colour, Circhanski-Deleuze proves that abstract painting, far from being an exhausted tradition, remains full of potential for innovation and expression.

This exhibition is thus not merely a celebration of colour and form, but a testament to the continuing viability and relevance of abstract painting in contemporary art.

Vibrant Forces: Nature in Living Colour is open until November 28 at The Atrium, The Xara Palace, Mdina, and is curated by Charlene Vella.