10 Digital Paintings That Have Helped An Artist Visualise His Grief

In the process of battling heartbreak, Maltese academic and artist Ġorġ Mallia created what, according to his website, are "Mood pieces". The digitally-created abstract backgrounds and pen-and-ink figures are visualisations of emotional states. He calls the series "Rhapsody-in-Pain". 10 of these paintings are being reproduced here. The descriptions are from a personal interview with the artist.

1. Firestorm

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

A female figure has a body that twists sensuously... almost dancing as she tip-toes against the background of a raging firestorm, raining down from embossed, rugged clouds. The swirl of fire around her legs embeds the figure within the painting, even as the intense currents of air generated by the storm (and which also make the storm itself stronger) ruffle her black mane of hair.

2. Despair

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

Whorls of black, red and blue superimposed by tails that explode outwards, denoting complete lack of control. Explosions of green and red dot the foreground, even as a crouching figure, head shaded, resting on an arm, communicates the uncontrollable throes of despair. Though the colours by themselves would normally be bright, their juxtaposition here brings out their darker sides as they reflect the feeling of the figure.

3. Nightmare

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

Heartbreak manifests itself in many ways, but perhaps the worst of ways is in the assault of thoughts at night, leading to chronic insomnia. Nightmares assault in the few sleeping hours, framed by long wakings in which thoughts intrude on sleep and kill all will to live. Flames burn the figure as he huddles, trying to protect himself from images that invade his brain, making him helpless to ward off the effects of sleepless nights.

4. Worship

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

The object of worship lies beyond a massively confused conglomerate of obfuscation and aggravation. The worshipped one is no longer there, and the figure waits to find who it is that she needs to worship, since the one she loved no longer exists. Only confusion lies ahead and the task of sifting through the mess of confusion to get to the one that is worshipped is beyond what she is capable of.

5. Loneliness

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

A figure huddles in front of what looks like the dark maw of a deep cave, surrounded by bright, firework-like "decorations". The contortions of the female figures are indicative of deep emotional pain as she sits alone in darkness surrounded by a beauty she cannot be part of. This is particularly true at times of festive celebrations, as the whole world is joyful and, by contrast, the intensity of loneliness is intensified. A dark painting, with splashes of colour that denote this contrast.

6. Pain

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

The physical and emotional pain of the figure is evident in the contortion, with the silent scream infusing the backdrop with red swirls that overwhelm the disturbance created by the colourful abstractions and the spots that can be drops of blood, or just instances of sorrow or grief that take over the soul and tear it to shreds. The bright colours darken as they get closer to the figure in pain, creating a symphony of agony that dominates.

7. Thoughts

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

A mass of intertwining lines, three dimensional so they leap off the two dimensional space, like the tangled roots of an old tree, en masse snaking across the image, leaving trails everywhere, creating new lines that disappear into themselves, or slowly work their way back into the morass. And in the middle of this mess is a seated, female figure, face looking down at the massive tangle of lines, face supported by a hand as she, evidently, thinks... her thoughts and the abject confusion (pain, grief, terror...) in them is reflected in the dark lines, twisted in a confused mess, around her.

8. Seeking

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

In the confusion of mind and heart created by the grief of the loss of a love, there is a constant need to seek some sort of solution that brings sense to a situation rendered unknown by circumstances. But seeking this solidity within confusion, though positive in itself (as indicated by the male figure's expression) is almost impossible, since the conflicting, uncontrolled emotions are very much in the way. These emotions are represented by flashes of multi-coloured light that obfuscate the mind and make seeking any sort of reasoning nigh impossible.

9. Maelstrom

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

The embossed blue whorls are a virtual, devastating whirlpool of emotional conflicts, even as the female figure sits unaware of its destructive energy so close behind her that it might engulf her at any moment. There is massive energy vibrating through the backdrop of this painting, contrasted by the seeming calm of the female figure who is as yet oblivious of the destruction to come. She will be blindsided by what she does not expect and be devastated by it.

10. Grief

Ġorġ Mallia / Via gorgmallia.com

The painting that epitomises the whole series of "Rhapsody-in-Pain" – grief instigated by the loss of an intensely loved person that overwhelms the entire body, stops thinking and creates such an intense, emotional pain that nothing remains of importance in life. Grief explodes throughout the whole body, transforming life, pushing the grieving person into a bottomless pit of darkness. The light exploding out of the contorted male figure in this painting does not light up the darkness that surrounds the man... rather, it causes it, promoting hopelessness, helplessness and intense pain.