There are exhibitions that invite you to look, and then there are those that dare you to see. Antler Cry, the solo exhibition by Maltese artist Anthony Catania, currently at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, is most certainly the latter.
The show draws on the haunting Greek myth of Actaeon, the hunter who stumbled upon the goddess Artemis bathing. His punishment was transformation. He became a stag, only to be torn apart by his own hounds.
For centuries, this story has captivated thinkers. But Catania is not simply retelling it ‒ he is holding it up as a mirror.
The artist is clear about his focus. The core of the myth, for him, isn’t the punishment. It is the moment of seeing something forbidden and the steep price that comes with that vision.
His canvases are the evidence of that cost. Defined by violent strokes, dark hues and a raw, almost physical texture, his work directly challenges the viewer’s comfort. There is nothing decorative here. Nothing polite. Each painting feels like a psychological excavation, urging us to confront what lies beneath our own polished surfaces.
Malta as muse
To get Antler Cry, you need to know its source. Catania’s Malta is a land of sharp contrasts. It is a sun-drenched island shaped by sieges, where baroque churches stand tense beside ancient fortresses. This constant friction between the sacred and the profane, the beautiful and the brutal, pulses through his art.
Hunter as Prey EternalHis figures are rough, distorted. They seem clawed from the canvas rather than painted on it. You can feel the influence of Francis Bacon, yet Catania’s work carries a distinctly Maltese gravity. It has a sense of weight and heat that feels born from the island’s very stone and history.
The descent into vision
The journey begins quietly with Whispers in the Ashen Thicket. It shows a dog drinking from a pool. The scene appears calm, almost still at first. But Catania’s muted palette and the deliberate absence of sound and movement create an eerie tension. It feels like the air itself is holding its breath.
Vigil in Thorned Reverence 3That stillness shatters. The emotional pressure builds until it erupts in the monumental Antlered Transfiguration Under Death’s Gaze. This canvas dominates the room. Here, a man becomes a stag in a storm of movement and chaos. Form and colour collide in a violent unity. It is a moment of metamorphosis that is also pure destruction.
Standing before it, you feel small. You might even feel complicit, like Actaeon, for having dared to look so closely.
The uncomfortable beauty of truth
Catania’s message is not a gentle one. He reminds us that beauty is not always kind. Truth, when fully confronted, can wound as deeply as it reveals. We live in an age of endless images. We scroll, we swipe, we forget. Antler Cry forces a stop. It makes us face what we avoid. It demands that we feel.
As Jean Pierre Magro, the curator, puts it: “Catania doesn’t offer comfort. He offers truth. The raw, painful and utterly human kind.”
Antler Cry will be on show at the National Museum of Archaeology, Republic Street, Valletta, until January 11. Opening hours are 9am to 5pm daily, except on December 19, 24, 25 and 31 and January 1.
Admission is free. Visit the Valletta Cultural Agency’s website and Facebook page for further details.