Life may feel vast when measured in years, experiences, and memories. Against the scale of the universe, however, human existence becomes almost impossibly small.
This awareness lies at the heart of Emerging Dimensions, the fifth solo exhibition by Maltese artist and art educator Lewis Zammit. Through a new series of abstract paintings, Zammit explored the immensity of space, the mystery of the unknown, and the brevity of human life, questions that shaped both the exhibition’s title and its visual language.
Curated by Dr. Charlene Vella, the exhibition was presented at the Palm Court Lounge of The Phoenicia Malta in Floriana throughout March 2024. It marked Zammit’s first solo exhibition in eight years, reflecting the measured and contemplative way in which he approaches his practice.
Although the works are abstract and non-representational, their beginnings are firmly rooted in the natural world. Zammit, who lives and works in Mellieħa, continues to draw and paint from life, a discipline that keeps him connected to the foundations of art while informing the more instinctive and philosophical qualities of his abstract work.
The paintings presented in Emerging Dimensions were produced over recent months and years. Each one developed from questions that repeatedly occupy the artist: Where does space end and form begin? Can space itself become a form? And what place does humanity occupy within something seemingly without limits?
“There are times when space is form and form is space; any form is part of space, and space can be any form,” Zammit explains.
This relationship between space and form runs throughout the exhibition. Forms emerge, dissolve, and reappear across the painted surface, creating compositions that seem to exist somewhere between the physical and the intangible. Nothing is entirely fixed; one element appears to flow into another, inviting the viewer to look beyond the immediately visible.
Nature remains Zammit’s constant point of departure. He is drawn to the quiet found near the sea, among trees and away from crowds, where he can observe the subtle ways in which the natural environment changes over time. These moments of solitude allow him to study patterns, textures, and transformations that later resurface, sometimes unconsciously, within his paintings.
His studio contains found natural specimens, including the remains of a cicada and a chameleon. Zammit collected them because he was fascinated by the patterns, layers, and tonal variations of their surfaces. By gilding these small and easily overlooked objects, he gave them a different presence, transforming something fragile and seemingly insignificant into an object worthy of renewed attention.
This instinct—to notice what others might pass by, also defines his paintings. Observed forms gradually settle within the artist’s subconscious before finding their way into compositions built through texture, colour and movement. Like the thoughts behind them, the works reveal themselves in layers. Zammit works in oil on board, preparing and priming each support himself. The textured ground becomes an active part of the finished work: some areas remain rough and materially present, while others appear smooth, fluid, and luminous. In several compositions, these contrasting surfaces coexist, strengthening the tension between solidity and openness.
The paintings are not built solely through translucent oil glazes. Zammit also introduces more substantial materials, giving parts of the surface a physical density that contrasts with the flowing, atmospheric quality of the surrounding forms.
Across the compositions, undulating shapes appear to ebb and flow. Boundaries are softened through sfumato, creating areas in which one form gradually disappears into another. This sense of ambiguity is deliberate: the paintings do not offer definitive answers but instead leave room for personal interpretation.
His palette is dominated by earthy and cooler tones, particularly blues and purples. Light moves through these colours in carefully controlled contrasts, bringing certain areas forward while allowing others to recede into shadow. The effect reinforces the central tension of the exhibition—the meeting point between form and space, presence and absence.
Zammit’s practice extends beyond the studio. He has also created anamorphic public art in Mellieħa, working with deliberate distortions that resolve themselves only when viewed from a particular perspective. This interest in perception, the difference between what exists and what the eye believes it sees, connects naturally with the questions explored in Emerging Dimensions.
Whether working in public space or on an intimate painted surface, Zammit leaves little to chance. His art develops through observation, reflection, and a careful process of construction. Yet once a painting is complete, he allows it to speak independently and to take on different meanings for every viewer.
“Art is a means of communication by which souls meet across gaps of space and time,” he says.
In Emerging Dimensions, those gaps become the subject themselves. Zammit’s paintings ask viewers to pause before the unknown and consider their own scale within it, not with fear, but with curiosity, humility, and wonder.
