Still Life | Life, Still – An Exhibition by Giorgio Preca & Ryan Falzon

Still Life | Life, Still

An exhibition of works by Giorgio Preca and Ryan Falzon

Curated by Giulia Privitelli 

In this exhibition of natura morta paintings, Ryan Falzon enters into a visual dialogue with Giorgio Preca (1909–1984). Works which are often considered to be without narrative are here presented in such a way so as to guide the visitor into questioning the life of material reality, into moving away from viewer to participant, from object and possession to the symbol, which, like a dark mirror, points to a reality that cannot be possessed, cannot be held – it is free, alone, and, in a sense, beyond nature: the imagination.

This exhibition is an initiative of the Malta Society of Arts.

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A catalogue featuring essays by Davinia Hamilton and Francois Zammit will be launched at a later event in September. Please stay tuned to join us for its presentation!

Giulia Privitelli – Curator

Researcher, writer, and guide. She holds a post-graduate in Art History (University of Malta, 2015), and in Theology and the Arts (University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2021). She is presently the Senior Editor at Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Over the past years, she has been involved in research on twentieth-century art in Malta and the curation of the Victor Pasmore Gallery, in Valletta.

Giorgio Preca – Artist

Dubbed a ‘painter of instinct’, and generally considered to have been one of the pioneers of modernism in twentieth-century Malta, Preca distinguished himself for his boldness in pushing against the limits of artistic academic convention. Although he had moved permanently to Rome after the Second World War, in the decades that followed, Preca retained his connection to Malta, establishing himself as a prominent member of Modernist groups of the period, including the Modern Art Group – of which he was president – and the Atelier ’56. The still lifes selected for this exhibition are marked by the distinct style he had adopted in these highly active years, commuting, engaging and exchanging ideas between the two centres of Italy and Malta.

Ryan Falzon – Artist

(b. 1988) Visual artist, published author, and art educator. His work is often abrasive and playful, and he is known for constructing narratives by arranging disparate images and texts in a collage-like fashion. Falzon has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Malta and Europe since 2009; his work from 2016 to 2019 has become a point of reference in contemporary Maltese political and socially engaged art. Since 2020, Falzon has mainly focused on painting plants and gardens in domestic settings, exploring the nation of biophilia and post-pandemic conditioning.

SAJF, the first novel by Falzon, was published in 2022, and was shortlisted for the 2023 National Book Prize. In 2024, Falzon was selected as a participant in the literary residencies European programme Ulysses’s Shelter. In the same year, Falzon was awarded the National Prize for the Best Emergent Author of the Year.

In 2023, Falzon graduated in MA in Fine Arts (University of Malta), with distinction.

28 August – 18 September 2025

Official Opening on Thursday 28 August at 7pm

Art Galleries of the Malta Society of Arts,
Palazzo de La Salle,
219, Republic Street,
Valletta

Monday: 9am-7pm
Tuesday: 9am-12pm, 5pm-8pm
Wednesday: 9am-12pm, 5pm-8pm
Thursday: 9am-12pm, 5pm-8pm
Friday: 9am-7pm
Saturday: 9am-1pm
Sunday and Public Holidays: Closed

Free