Artworks by Stephen Abela

My recent work is almost summed up by a quote from the photographer, Slim Aarons: “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.’’ I am drawn to holiday and leisure scenes, like those by Aaron. I am attracted to the mix of nostalgia and ‘Luxe, Calme et Volupté’ in these depictions of leisure. Here is a place where people are partly naked, relaxed and often unaware of themselves; perhaps more ‘natural’ than in other situations. 

The process of working with an image that has personal appeal because it reminds me of some distant past, appeals to me as much as the beauty of the scene itself, as well as the edited visions from my own memories. I find it difficult to separate nostalgia from the purely aesthetic. In many ways this makes the subject matter I select problematic and challenging for me, as it is a personal iconography wrapped up in a clichéd beauty.