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What a landscape can become
In Of Nature and Essence, Josette Casha, a recent graduate of the MAVC Malta School of Art, turns her curiosity about the natural world into an exploration of colour, form and composition
A review by Roderick Camilleri
A root grows out of sight. A rock formation bears the marks of changes that may have taken millions of years. At the coast, a shift in light can change the way a stretch of sea and sky looks in an instant. These different rhythms of nature run through Of Nature and Essence, an exhibition by Josette Casha at Gemelli Gallery in Ta’ Qali.
For Casha, looking closely at nature is the beginning of the artistic process. A coastline offers a line that can be stretched, broken or softened. A root suggests a branching pattern that can be carried into another part of a composition. Abstraction gives her room to follow these possibilities. As forms shift and colours meet, a detail drawn from the landscape can begin to organise the whole work.
The horizon is a particularly revealing motif. In a seascape, it gives the eye a sense of distance. In an abstract composition, it can also become the point where two expanses of colour meet. The eye can move between those readings, recognising a landscape one moment and attending to the shape of the composition the next. That movement gives a sense of what Casha’s experimentation opens up. A familiar form can do several things within a single work.
The human figure introduces another kind of exploration. Its contours echo the shapes of roots, rock and water, allowing Casha to follow a line or rhythm across forms that might otherwise seem unrelated. The body becomes part of the composition’s structure, carrying forward an interest in how forms grow, branch and connect.
The exhibition brings together 35 works, predominantly paintings, with a small selection of prints. Seen together, they offer a chance to follow Casha’s curiosity from one work to the next. A shape that catches the eye in one composition may return elsewhere with a different weight or rhythm. Looking for those variations brings visitors close to the questions that drive her practice, including how far a form can change while retaining something of the landscape that first drew her attention.
Of Nature and Essence is on view at Gemelli Gallery, Ta’ Qali, till 21 November. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 2pm and Saturday from 9am to 12pm.
