Giorgio Preca and Ryan Falzon in a conversation across time

Still Life | Life, Still, brings together the works of the Maltese modernist master Giorgio Preca and contemporary artist and author Ryan Falzon, creating a unique dialogue between the island’s artistic past and its present.

A major exhibition bringing together the works of Giorgio Preca (1909–1984), one of Malta’s foremost modernist painters, and contemporary artist and author Ryan Falzon (b. 1988), is being held at the Malta Society of Arts (MSA) in Valletta.

Curated by Giulia Privitelli, Still Life | Life, Still 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, opened on August 28 and runs until September 18.

Green Parrot with Dove (1968) by Giorgio Preca

Though widely recognised as a leading voice of Maltese modernism, 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.

Sauce Bowl and Grapes (1967) by Giorgio Preca

“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.

July (2025) by Ryan Falzon

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,” said Privitelli.

In response to Preca’s works, 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.

Meditations on time, memory and the unseen

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.

Maltasajf (2025) by Ryan Falzon

“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,” Falzon explains.

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.

The Ghost of Lovers Past (2025) by Ryan Falzon

“Still lifes are often records of being in space and time,” curator Privitelli says.

“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.

Still Life | Life, Still runs until September 18 at the Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo de La Salle, Valletta. Entrance is free. For more details, visit artsmalta.org or facebook.com/maltasocietyofarts.