The Malta Society of Arts (MSA) is proud to present Still Life | Life, Still, a major exhibition that brings together the works of Giorgio Preca (1909–1984), one of Malta’s foremost modernist painters, and contemporary artist and author Ryan Falzon (b. 1988). Curated by Giulia Privitelli, the show explores the still life genre as a bridge across time – an encounter between two artists who never met, but whose works now resonate in dialogue – at the MSA’s historic Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta. The exhibition, an initiative of the MSA itself, opens on Thursday 28 August and runs until 18 September 2025.
Though widely recognised as a leading voice of Maltese modernism, Giorgio Preca remains an artist whose personality and artistic process are still under-explored. Having lived much of his life between Malta and Rome, Preca engaged with international art circles while never severing his connection to the Maltese cultural scene. His body of work is expansive – from portraits to religious compositions, imaginary figures and vivid scenes of everyday life – yet for Still Life | Life, Still, the focus rests on his still lifes, a genre that reveals a more radical side of his practice. “His still lifes tremble with a kind of restlessness, pushing at the limits of both materiality and subject matter,” explains Privitelli. “They are not merely academic exercises, but meditations on time, memory, and the unseen. Paintings, in a sense, are themselves still lifes – resistant to time.”
The works on display have been carefully selected by Privitelli from Maltese collections and from Preca’s Rome studio, with the help of his son, Massimo Preca. “The distinctive feature of my father’s still lifes lies in his continuous search for synthesis, tending towards abstraction,” notes Preca. For him, seeing his father’s work in the galleries of the Malta Society of Arts carries a strong sense of continuity: “Giorgio was a member of the Society from 1939, and he exhibited here in 1952 and 1955. Bringing his works back to these walls is both a tribute and a renewal of that legacy.”
In response to Preca’s works, curator Giulia Privitelli invited contemporary artist and author Ryan Falzon to create and select pieces that would engage in a visual dialogue with Preca’s still lifes. Known for his bold, politically charged painting practice, Falzon has in recent years turned his attention to plants, domestic interiors, and the rhythms of everyday life – a thematic shift that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. “For me, both gardening and painting are acts of resistance,” Falzon reflects. “They slow time down in a world that constantly pushes us towards distraction. The care expressed towards plants, the rootedness of living with them, and the intimacy that emerges through such attention become subtle yet powerful forms of resilience. This body of work treats still life not as a static scene, but as a counter-narrative to the turbulence of our age.”
Falzon’s works for this exhibition respond directly to the four thematic galleries shaped by Preca’s still lifes: from bi-dimensional compositions that flatten time and space, to boldly constructed painterly surfaces, to more abstract dissolutions of form, and finally, to works infused with symbolism and mythology. “The process was like a conversation,” explains Falzon. For him, showing his works alongside Preca’s is both humbling and affirming: “It is, without doubt, an immense honour. This exhibition positions me at the forefront of carrying the Maltese Modernist spirit into the present. Preca’s vision was contemporary in its time, and revisiting his works now allows us to ask what still life – and life itself – can mean today.”
“Still lifes are often records of being in space and time,” says Privitelli. “But what if we embrace their stillness not as rigidity, but as a form of witness? A still life can open up space for silence, solitude, and even imagination. It can remind us of life amid apparent deadness, of hope amid uncertainty.”
Still Life | Life, Still invites visitors not to consume images passively, but to sit with them – to stay with what is uncomfortable, to notice details, to engage with stillness as a rare privilege. The staging of the show also reflects this intention: each gallery highlights not only paintings but also objects drawn from Preca’s and Falzon’s studios, from an iconic rocking chair to a paint-stained armchair, objects saturated with memory and presence.
“This exhibition encapsulates what the Malta Society of Arts has stood for since its foundation in 1852,” says MSA Acting President Roderick Camilleri. “We have always sought to provide a space for artistic growth, experimentation, and dialogue. By bringing together Giorgio Preca and Ryan Falzon, we reaffirm our commitment to intergenerational exchange and to re-examining Maltese cultural identity through new perspectives.”
Still Life | Life, Still runs from Thursday 28 August to Thursday 18 September 2025 at the Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo de La Salle, Valletta. Entrance is free. For more details please visit www.artsmalta.org or www.facebook.com/maltasocietyofarts.