Errare humanum est

Lisa Gwen Art 04 / 06 / 25

"Within an environment obsessed with fads, trends and expectation... CO-MA is slowly and quietly redefining the local landscape of painting..."

Saint or sinner?

The implications of these words seem to dictate an either/or ‘situation’. In the sense that one could ‘claim’ either title, but not both. And yet, humanity proves otherwise. Time and again.

Every saint is also a sinner. Fact. But can we speculate, or even claim that ever sinner has performed a saintly deed? Hardly.

People sin on a daily basis (by sinning I am taking the literal sense of committing an immoral act which is considered a transgression against divine law). So much so, that humans feel a compelling need to confess their sins – to parents, friends, a significant other, religious practitioner; even to their therapist.

• I had an impure thought: Sin. I disrespected my parents: Sin. I pleasured myself: Sin. I lied to get out of working extra hours: Sin. And that’s just today. You get my drift.
• I helped an old woman cross the road: Good deed. I helped a woman juggle her shopping bags: Good deed. I fed the stray cats in my neighbourhood: Good deed. Also, just today – by no means saintly, however.

Becoming a saint, involves a laborious process that one can only ever hope to attain the title post-mortem. It is characterised by a life of virtue, by serving God, possibly also the performing of miracles. Not exactly attainable goals for the average Joe.

The elaborate introduction is a necessary preamble to the exhibition titled: Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Ever since interviewing CO-MA regarding his solo show currently running in Valletta, I have been incessantly attempting to resolve the two-face conundrum. Extrapolated from Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance – in its entirety, the quote reads: “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” Superficially, Wilde seems to point towards temporality as the main marker distinguishing the two states of ‘being’. Saints are made. Sinners, merely, are.

Nevertheless, it is sin that points to our humanity. To our existence. And this is what we are often painfully reminded of through CO-MA’s Seven Deadly Sin representations and reinterpretations – of the reality and the proximity of sin to our everyday lives. Sloth can look as plain and beautiful as a fair maiden resting upon a feathered surface, or that Lust need not be depicted as an orgy of bodies; rather, it can be accentuated through the touch of a powerful man preying on an innocent child.

Exploring the galleries of Spazju Kreattiv and soaking in CO-MA’s work has a strange effect. The artist successfully makes the viewer ponder our personal attributions to each of the seven sins; how would we represent our topic of scrutiny? What visuals, what qualities do we associate with each, and how would they become manifest in tangible form? This element alone, inducing a highly unexpected outcome, of a most personal if not intimate nature.

This mood is decidedly exacerbated by the infused mood throughout the galleries. The lights are dim. The sense of drama, elevated. And then there is the sound, the music. Almost undetectable. Just like the background score of a movie, which complements and heightens the visuals. Composed by the artist himself, the aural component is divided into four parts, which merge and blur seamlessly into one another as you move from one gallery to the next, adding delicate flavour and nuance to the rich earthy tones of the paintings.

In a world steadfastly losing its sense of colour and nuance, CO-MA seems to have found it.  

When I had first met CO-MA back in 2021, he had confessed to a strict penchant for Black and White – clarity, no unnecessary distractions, just plays of light and shadow. So much so, that his original medium of choice was charcoal.

However, back then I could foresee that this imposed restriction would be a mere garment to disrobe, when the time was ripe and fitting. From dust to oil. CO-MA has made a seamless transition; and this body of work constitutes almost the entire oeuvre produced ever since dispelling with one medium for another.

This shift in medium has gifted him with possibility. No longer is his technique dictated by elimination, through cautious blurring or carefully construed highlights. Now, more than ever, his method is one of layers: The most shallow of builds an architect could ever endeavour to create. A build possessing the most faint and delicate of structures, yet one which sustains an intricate fabric shrouded in dogma, history, context, symbolism and allegory.

CO-MA’s palette still appears predominantly monochromatic. Yet, amidst his propensity for umbers, ochres and tenebrous tones, one can detect a panoply of colour. Blues, greens even some reds and a rosy pink can be viewed in the flushed cheek of an asphyxiated Envy. Oil is a malleable medium, which can be controlled and muted, diluted or impasted. When employed in CO-MA’s manner, it allows for a rich, glimmering quality, which can be quasi sigh-inducing.

His evolving aesthetic can perhaps be described as Postmodern or Contemporary realism. His orchestrations amalgamate Italian Renaissance idealism, Northern realism and Baroque drama, which has been further interspersed with outsider and graffiti art. He uses, blends and melds the teachings of the Old Masters; adopting and adapting the sfumato, chiaroscuro and luce di cantina techniques to suit his needs and his whims.

Seven paintings produced in four months. In tandem. Thereby ensuring an absolute homogeneity across each of the works presented. CO-MA clearly enjoys a challenge. Imposed as it may be.

The apparent vandalism of his own painstakingly painted tableaus, an added act of rebellion that further rejects artistic archetypes. This is a release; a contradiction of, and in juxtaposition to classical conformity. Within an environment obsessed with fads, trends and expectation… CO-MA is slowly and quietly redefining the local landscape of painting.

The exhibition runs until the 29th of June, open Tuesday to Sunday until 9pm. It is supported by Spazju Kreattiv as part of the 2024/2025 season programme, and sponsored by Light Design Solutions. The opening event was sponsored by Charles Grech.

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