My art is heavily influenced by my graphic design background. It is intensely personal, more often than not reflecting emotions I am going through at the moment that a piece is conceived. I have often referred to my works of art as VISUAL POEMS and more often than not that is what they are... visual lyrical poetry, using digital brush strokes instead of words, lyrically capturing an intense moment.

 

I normally work in sets, creating a "formula" and then enacting different permutations of the same script. Below are four such sets, or series, of digital paintings/drawings. Most came out of a dark era in my life. The first of the paintings was created in November 2019 and though the Rhapsody-in-Pain series of digital paintings has been concluded, other series are ongoing.

Digital Paintings – the Rhapsody-in-Pain series

 

Visual poems that are mood pieces with abstract backgrounds mirroring an emotional condition, made more poignant by means of pen-and-ink figures that complement the atmosphere created by the digital backdrops.

 

Together, these 37 paintings form part of a collective tentatively called RHAPSODY-IN-PAIN. The first 14 pieces have been collated into a two and a half minute video that can be seen HERE. A three-minute, behind-the-scenes video, briefly explaining the techniques, and leading up to the forthcoming exhibition of prints, can be seen HERE. A video about the process produced by ALLURA can be seen HERE.

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Digital Drawings – the Corondarkselfies series

 

Digital pen-and-ink drawings with grey washes that are self-portraits of various manifestations of a dark, sorrowful mood. Feelings of grief, sadness and loneliness were exacerbated by voluntary self-confinement lasting many weeks during the first Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. There were moments when the loneliness and lack of human touch became unbearable and the manifestation of that is clear in these self-portraits, with the emphasis on the hands and the facial expression.

 

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Digital Drawings – the Versimage series

 

Digital pen-and-ink drawings of half-bust figures in motion with themed digital backgrounds that correspond to verse superimposed on the backdrop, though not in the topmost layer, integrating it and showing that it is an intrinsic part of that background. These paintings are an attempt at moving forward from a darkness of the soul, though in some cases the futility of that attempt is implicit in the atmosphere generated by the backdrop and figure.

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Digital Paintings – the Sloshed Paint series

 

Intuitive paintings, using diverse brushes, but with a muddier, watercolour and acrylic-look effect, meant to represent the sudden flurry of moods. Their strength is in the atmospheric blending of the different "sploshes", the harmony coming more from the intertwining of diversely coloured shapes, then in the melange of hues.

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Digital Pen and Ink – Mood Pieces

 

An ongoing, occasional series of digital pen and ink drawings, backed by digital abstractions, that metaphorically portray the artist's mood at the moment of creation, and potentially also as the reason for the actual creation. These are communicative pieces, intended to reach out for the sake of identification.

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Pen Portraits

 

Though definitely not a portrait artist, these pen and ink portraits, that started as an obituary tradition on Facebook, are predominantly line renditions of individuals that have been a life influence. They come from all walks of life. Most are international, some are Maltese. The line-work, predominantly cross-hatch, is where the true value lies in these portraits, if they have any value at all. Colouring is comics-like, often flat, with some filtered, hard-edge gradients. There are a few more portraits in the Illustration section.

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© Ġorġ Mallia 2022

Versimage

Despair

Morpheus

Firestorm

Coronadarkselfie 3

Coronadarkselfie 6

Musing 1

Christopher Plummer

Pietru Pawl Saydon