This exhibition, entitled Hues and Tones, is being held at the Banca Giuratale in Republic Square, Gozo, from 19 to 31 of March. The bank’s sponsorship goes to reinforce BOV’s commitment to be a leading patron of arts and culture in Malta.

Henry Alamango’s paintings typically convey a serenity enhanced by the softness, translucency and atmospheric quality of watercolours, the basis of most of his work. Even his work in oils and chalk pastels tend to emulate this diffusion, leaning towards an impressionistic style.

His landscapes and seascapes are of a distinctly Mediterranean character. Intense light and shade, the aroma of Mediterranean sea-shores, the intoxicating wild thyme and figs that spring from barren hot rock complemented by an intense social fabric, constitute the milieu of the eminently Mediterranean archipelago that is Henry’s homeland. The treatment of his subjects often follows an ethereal form, particularly in the use of watercolour washes, illustrating a serene diffusion of light running through an equally pleasant use of colours.

Mr Alamango views the world around us as having shape, texture and colour. This last property is not an easy concept to grasp. In technical terms, colour results from the way that white light is split and refracted by an object’s molecular structure, causing light of a particular hue to radiate from that object.

It is a known fact, however, that different hues stimulate us in different ways, whether taken in isolation or in particular combinations. What the observer feels, therefore, is as much a product of the harmony or discord applied through the artist’s palette, as much as it is a product of the subject matter itself. The ‘artist’s palette’ is a matter of choice of colours (hues) as well as their intensity and tonal strength (relative to other colours). At the conscious level, the viewer relates to a subject; at the emotional or subconscious level, hues and tones do much of the work.

Viewed in this context, the artist feels that the subjects in his work are often of secondary importance; an accessory or vehicle used to communicate moods or emotions through the judicious use of hues and tones.