Nuance can be defined as a subtle difference in, or shade of, meaning, expression, or sound. Artistic expression is varied in more aspects than one – there is the thematic aspect and there is the stylistic one. There can be a reference to art history and what preceded the particular vision; there can be an influence via the mundane, by the news that is delivered every second of contemporary existence; by the immediate circumstances that can elicit contrasting emotions.

The choice of Nuances as a title of the exhibition essentially defines a spectrum of inspirational sources, especially so when the whole enterprise is that between two artists who have an identifiable and very personalised style of expression.

'Altered States' by Carmel Bonello

Carmel Bonello is a veteran of the local art scene; expressionism found its way very early on into his oeuvre. He explores the world around him in full colour, black lines delineating the composition, as one finds in the oeuvres of Georges Rouault, Bernard Buffet, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele. He explores many themes, ranging from landscapes and portraits onto abstracts and nudes, and much more. He simply cannot be tied down to a single theme. There is always an emphasis on the subject portrayed composition-wise via mass, energy and volume.

Unlike previous exhibitions where Bonello included all of the themes in his oeuvre, for Nuances, Bonello has chosen an anthropocentric theme that gives more focus to human interactions and emotions. His expressionist portraits, such as Staring Faces in Yellow, Face 1 and Face 2, and his stylised human figures and their interactions, are the protagonists this time round, showcasing a mature artist at the height of his artistic expression.

'Open Your Wings and Fly' by Carmel Bonello

In paintings such as The Time of Living Dangerously and Altered States, Bonello reflects on the signs of the times when crowds are viewed as something menacing that can transform themselves into ominous and deadly organisms.

Eliciting the proto-abstract expressionist work of André Masson, such as The Kill (1944), and that of American abstract expressionist Lee Krasner, Bonello’s choice of titles also indicates an abnormal state of existence in which trouble is brewing and the crowd loses its structure to become one inchoate mass.

One is also reminded of the psychotic movement in Umberto Boccioni’s The City Rises, in which men and horses coalesce into a deconstructed turmoil.

'The Time of Living Dangerously' by Carmel Bonello

Order is restored in Hope and his two paintings of musicians, while Changes of the Mind is about chaos which is personal and which plagues most of us. We learn to live and tolerate the various personalities that inhabit our subconscious, until we get at some resolution as in Open Your Wings and Fly, in which Bonello exhorts us to stem the tide of doubt and helplessness welling deep inside each and every one of us, by taking the initiative and flinging ourselves to freedom from oppressive thoughts.

Carmel was probably one of the very first people that actually reached out to me in the very early days- Peter Seychell

Peter Seychell is a relative newcomer to the local art scene. However, his impressive intricate paintings have captured the attention of the art-loving public. One can make out a dichotomy in his work, that between these mandala-like pictorial tours de force versus his more expressive landscapes.

'Photosynthesis' by Peter Seychell

There is a strong storytelling dimension in the former group, as fauna and flora integrate into a fiabesque setting, much in the same way as that of celebrated illustrators such as Gustave Doré, Arthur Rackham and W. Heath Robinson.

Whereas these three famous artists usually followed an established storyline within a body of established literature, Seychell’s approach is untethered and not inhibited by such limitations. One looks at a Seychell painting rather like going on an adventure, exploring new scenarios as the tale unfolds slowly while the ‘morale’ of the story is rather undetermined.

'Sunrise in Bucha' by Peter Seychell

The other side of Seychell’s oeuvre finds him more open to improvisational execution. In some of these works, a portentous sun, sometimes represented as a darkened star, overwhelms the composition. Seychell seems to impart a message of impending doom, the solar object being the focus of the composition, harking back to the stars in Vincent van Gogh’s paintings of starry nights. However, in the Dutch artist’s case, the stars oversee an idyll, while in Seychell’s case, their counterpart is threatening a supernova explosion and universal annihilation.

Some other works belonging to the latter series demonstrate a more poetic side – a treescape illuminated by the silvery moon exudes peace and tranquility, maybe suggesting that nature can still offer redemption to an undeserving humanity, amid everyday scenarios of human-induced devastation resulting in wars, climate change, disease and hunger.

'A Lake' by Peter Seychell

These treescapes, eliciting comparisons with similarly-themed work by Scottish artist Peter Doig, deliver a message of hope in the beauty of nature that humanity abjectly tends to exploit and vampire through the extraction of its resources.

“Over the past five years or so, I have been very fortunate to meet so many people that were willing to open up about their art… some more so than others. These people I am proud to consider not only friends but mentors,” Seychell says. “Carmel was probably one of the very first people that actually reached out to me in the very early days.”

'Frost' by Peter Seychell

This ignited the first embers for the setting up of Nuances, thus bringing together two very sensitive artistic voices, so diverse yet somehow also complementary, thus enabling a very interesting artistic discourse.

Nuances, hosted by Gemelli Art Gallery, Ta’ Qali, is on until December 23. Consult the exhibition’s Facebook page for more information.