Literary Event

Here is one last post regarding the Ex Voto exhibition. On the closing night, a reading was held.  The works were developed organically after a series of meetings between the writers and the visual artist. 

Originally, the participants were KUL (Kit Azzopardi and Leanne Ellul), Glen Calleja and myself.  As soon as the project started being promoted on social media networks, Antoine Cassar expressed his interest in the theme of the Ex Voto project, and was welcomed on board. 

The event turned out to be an intimate session, where the audience was taken round the exhibition space. the writers set themselves next to the artwork that mostly reflected their writing, along with an object they picked up and which served to introduce the audience to what they were to expect from every writer. 

One can read and download the writings from: http://issuu.com/ryanfalzon/docs/ex_voto_kitbiet

Conclusions

The Ex Voto exhibition is over, with the works stored away in my ever diminishing storage space, and others that are proudly hanging on the walls of their new owner. I must say that I am very satisfied with how the whole project turned out.

The attendance on the opening night was a remarkable one, and so was the feedback from the public.

Ex Voto: The Concept

With a week to go for my first solo exhibition, things are getting quite hectic. However, these last few days I have been constantly writing about the project, and how the whole project turned out to be a discovery of inner solitude and factors of religious islanders. Most of my past projects have been about memories and location, but with Ex Voto I have taken the subject to a new level.

This project revolves around Christian iconography, the conditions of living on an island and the relation to the sea. Maltese seascapes are depicted in contrast with urban Berlin landscapes to create platforms on which solemnly silent figures exist.  These figures echo the feeling of solitude and helplessness found in most of the maritime Ex-Voto pieces; whether alone or in a group, the characters seen in these paintings are always alone, relying on their own skills and supernatural phenomena, hoping to land themselves in a better situation. This desire for a better state was taken to a different level when interpreted in the contest of the islander's utopia of the continental city as a destination to escape to in order to be fulfilled.

The works explore the ambiguous relation between the sea and the individuals who feel threatened by the physical isolation that it creates, but also feel that the sea gives them an identity, at par with their Catholic upbringing.  This body of works bears testimony to contemporary salvation, liberation, and an introspective journey which often leads to solitude.  

 Ex Voto opens on the 12^th September at Maritime Museum, Birgu, at 8.00pm and runs until the 26th September 2014.

Ex Voto is a project supported by the Malta Arts Fund

One can click here for updates and details about the Ex Voto project, and below are some teasers from the final sketches that eventually ended up on canvas.

Ex Voto: Nearly there

Ex Voto: Sketches 3

Conceptual sketches for the Ex Voto exhibition, which opens on the 12th September 2014 at Maritime Museum in Birgu, Malta.  This project is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

Ex Voto: Sketches 2

Conceptual sketches for the Ex Voto exhibition, which opens on the 12th September 2014 at Maritime Museum in Birgu, Malta.  This project is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

Ex Voto: Sketches 1

Exciting times are ahead, since in less than 2 months my first solo exhibition would open.  

The following are sketches, done mostly on site, where I study the forms and cliffs mostly found in the South of Malta, and from l-Ahrax tal-Mellieha. These sketches, combined with visits to Mellieha Sanctuary, Zabbar Sanctuary Museum and tal-Herba, Birkirkara, are to serve as a vehicle to produce works in a contemporary idiom.

This project, Ex Voto, is supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

Ex Voto: Visual Research

Recently I have embarked on a project titled Ex Voto, which will eventually lead to my first solo exhibition this coming September at The Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu. Ex Voto is a project supported by the Malta Arts Fund.

Works produced would be a contemporary portrait of salvation built by a fusion of Christian iconography, urban environment and seascapes.  Malta is highly evident in such project: the idea of an island, with all its connotations, would be present throughout the project.  As a start, I have been focusing on Filfla, which for me, coming from Zurrieq, has always been part of my childhood scenario.

Together with reseaching the limited resources information related to this islet, I am currently trying to get access to see some Ex Voto paintings which used to be at Tal-Hniena chapel in Qrendi.  One particular painting, dated 1831, shows two fishermen, Pietro Formosa and Guiseppe Farrugia, being rescued after being stranded on Filfla for a week due to a tempest.

Other locations have been explored as well, including Comino and Gozo.  The aim is to build a clear visual link between island, solitude and salvation.  The media in which these themes would be explored are lino printing and painting,

Assimilated Spaces

On the 30th of May, us artists at the Xarolla Windmill shall be opening our first exhibition for this year.

The works to be shown during “Assimilated Spaces” are a result of direct observation of tangible spaces. Much of the work on display is based on the reactions and relations present, or absent, within the context of space.

“Assimilated Spaces” aims to explore the intersection between real and imaginative spaces, and how these are interpreted by the participant artists. The process by which the works were created was an exercise in analysing surrounding and imaginative environments.  The work attempts to reassess and re-qualify our relation to everyday space, most of which are often looked over.

Drawings by Andrea Zerafa and paintings by Ryan Falzon are presenting an assimilation of tangible spaces, created in a personal and expressive manner.  Zerafa would be exhibiting a series of small ink and wash drawings which were all done on site, in this case at the University of Malta.  These drawings portrait an interaction between the area within a classroom and students; it is about capturing a fleeing moment.  Falzon’s works are on a similar wavelength, where urban spaces are going to be presented on a parallel level with activities that can only be executed within a built environment.  Collage and painting are the main techniques used here, combined together to create colourful but somehow discomforting works, mostly due to the undercurrent themes found within the works, themes such as the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, the Vietnam war, traffic accidents and chronic solitude, among others.

Detail from "Pig Platz ist Uber Hip", one of my works to be shown during Assimilated Spaces

Sabrina Calleja Jackson is presenting two works, executed in oil on canvas.  The space explored here is more on a personal level, space that is visualized through soap bubbles. These bubbles represent ephemeral happiness, a happiness floating within the boundaries of the canvas.  The works are done in an elegant, clean manner, where the light background and overblown bubbles clearly demands the attention of the viewer.

 The works by Gabriel Buttigieg consists of five profiles of the same model, done in conte crayons.  The model is existing within a confined space, with the boundaries between the subject and background being blurred due to the rough working manner of the artist.  The fragility and elegance of the design push further this idea.  Sarah Maria Scicluna‘s works were created out of exploration of space in relation to the shapes in use, mainly being concerned with composition and how it can be displayed. She will be presenting four pieces executed in silk screen technique.  Her works, just like those from Calleja Jackson, are clean and minimal, existing on a plain surface.

This event is done in collaboration with Zurrieq Local Council.

Visit the Facebook Event Page by clicking here for updates regarding the event.

Getting a car (extract)

Prior to exhibiting the paintings during the next exhibition on the 30th May 2014 at Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq, I shall be publishing extracts I wrote back in 2011.  Entitled "Time for Wreckage", this was a series of loose writings centered around a doomed, sexist, male figure who is existing in a bleak postmodern city.

I love feeling unhealthy.  Stiff lungs.  Hurt burns.  Stomach problems.  Short sharp pains in the kidneys, the kind that makes you feel alive.  I wish I can go on a diet of Pet Shop Boys and a daily dose of good E’s.  Not the shitty ones they are making today.  The old pink ones the size of the holy wafer, the ones that used to kill an average of 6 party people during a rave .

After quenching my thirst with gallons of cheap artificial mass produced orange juice I start walking towards the scrap yard on the outskirts of the industrial area.

I enter the scrap yard.  No one on site.  I walk around tons and tons of plastic, and finally I spot a metal container turned office.

“Hey, I’m looking for an old car.  A fuel consuming car.”

“Furthest down, right section.”

“Thanks”

I walk towards the  tons of rust on the right section, and start inspecting the remains of a car which has traces of yellow paint on it.

“Thinking of reviving that bastard?” asks a hobo with dreads, who lives in the yard.  “Go green man, go green.”

Go fuck yourself.

I head back to the office, and arrange to get the car for free.  Transport included. 

Now it stands in front of my flat.  A 1972 Morris Marina.  BMC engine.  I covered the car, did a “For Restoration” sign and left it there.  I got no knowledge whatsoever about cars and their engines.

As I was walking in, I saw a cat eating out of a discarded nappy.  It was so very disgusting.

Urban Night (Extract)

Prior to exhibiting the paintings during the next exhibition on the 30th May 2014 at Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq, I shall be publishing extracts I wrote back in 2011.  Entitled "Time for Wreckage", this was a series of loose writings centered around a doomed, sexist, male figure who is existing in a bleak postmodern city.

The moon shines through the kitchen window.  It’s 3 am in the morning and I’m sipping tea feeling bored and empty. 

A redhead is alone in the park across the window.  I guess she lives in my block.  I can tell off her face she’s a slut.  A very dirty slut.  She looks like a transvestite in those clothes and her new haircut.  A very sexy one I must say.  She’s sitting there alone, smoking and talking to herself. Or maybe to the moon.  How I wish I could go down there, feeling cool and cocky and introduce myself and take her hand in mine and tell her that we are heading for a disaster and that we are (not) going to live happily ever after. 


I can still smell her perfume.  Cheap perfume.  School girl perfume. The kind that reminds me of cheap soap bars produced locally.  The kind that her hair used to smell of.  Yummy.  I miss her.  I’m not drunk enough.  Would you come and drink with me? We can just coke up later, and turn into posters and fuck so that we can produce star babies.

You like the idea?

(I know you do)

Bring your sexy friend along, I’m sure she can handle some good stuff.

“Have you seen her lately?”

“No”

“Has she got married?”

“Maybe”

“Where is she living?”

“I dunno, maybe in this very block, maybe in Berlin, maybe in South Africa.”

“I miss her”

“I miss her too”

“She had a lovely tummy”

“So do you”

“I got a beer belly”

“So do I”

“So what?”

“Sexy time?”

I forgot to sterilize the sheets, down in the deep fryer we go.  She doesn’t seem to mind, her  blonde hair all sticky and tangled, her brown eyes in ecstasy.

Her tits are two pills, which I swallow immediately, leaving nothing for her.  I laugh in her face as she fades away.  I’m not gonna fade away.  I’m gonna burn out with one big bang.

Urban Sundays (Extract)

Prior to exhibiting the paintings during the next exhibition on the 30th May 2014 at Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq, I shall be publishing extracts I wrote back in 2011.  Entitled "Time for Wreckage", this was a series of loose writings centered around a doomed, sexist, male figure who is existing in a bleak postmodern city.

I seldom go out.  I hate the buses, people, window shopping, children, couples, mummies, buggies, trains, traffic, pervs, cafes…but once in a while I have to go out.  Today is one of them sunny days.  I go out and quickly disappear in the industrial areas of the city, and since it is Sunday it is a ghost town.  I reach a pond of dirty filthy water, which I and children of my generation used to call “The Sea”.  The Sea my ass.  It was just a huge reservoir tank, with some fat orange goldfish living off the slime from the bottom of the tank.  Some of the children, the chavvy ones mostly, used to swim in the Sea and most of them would drown, only to be seen in the form of nails, hair and maybe a bone or two which frequently came out of our water tap. 

Nowadays we have drunk too much of the Sea, and there is no water left in there.  Not one single drop.  I sit down on the edge, enjoying the sun.

“Oi basterd, outta fuckin sun”

It was an orange goldfish.

Damn, I guess I'm going crazy.

“Oi basterd, outta fuckin sun”

Are you gonna shut up? Are you?  My Doc Martens glimmer in the sun.

“Oi basterd, outta fuckin sun”

“Want Oral Sex?”

Glup, Glup, Glup, The fish speaks to me but I cannot understand.  Her lips move slowly, out of synchronization.  It’s really funny and sad at the same time.

Now I hope you understand why I hate going out.

Traffic Jam (Extract)

Prior to exhibiting the paintings during the next exhibition on the 30th May 2014 at Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq, I shall be publishing extracts I wrote back in 2011.  Entitled "Time for Wreckage", this was a series of loose writings centered around a doomed, sexist, male figure who is existing in a bleak postmodern city.

"Stop telling me how beautiful the countryside is.  I don’t understand that kind of beauty.  I am an urban junkie and I need to smell the old hippies smoking over prized dope on doorways, deeply inhale the smell of diesel and paraffin , see the shabby lit shop windows in the empty city centre at night, go bar hopping, blast myself in nightclubs and eat salty junk food at 5 in the morning in the car, forcing tasty uncooked plastic textured food in the stomach. 

I guess our generation has, by now, built up immunity against plastic food.  As a child, I always wondered whether Happy Meal burgers and toys were made out of some all-purpose material, suitable for both toys and food.  In my teens, I tried to be conscious and eat healthy food out of dirty farmer’s hands, but nowadays I concluded that being healthy means being boring.  

This afternoon, I took a bus ride during the rush hour cos I had nothing better to do.  The main roads built next to 1950’s industrial estates are killers at this time, with factory workers crawling out of side roads in their Jap cars. And, of course, the main roads would get blocked.  

Buses and traffic jams are excellent examples to explain democracy.  On buses everybody pays the same fare and given the same amount of space.  The driver, whether drunk or not, would take us to our destination.

Traffic jams are more democratic.  Everybody has to stop, move inch by inch.  Everybody in his own car which expresses his own personality....and sometimes one or two bully boys bypass the jam by passing over the pavement.

In the middle of this metal mayhem, I see a dreadlock girl walking with a hippie boy.  Dread boy dread girl discovering a concrete jungle.  In a main road with grey crash barriers, grey walls from exhaust, dirty black tarmac and torn monochrome posters, a colourful flowery dress, yellow pants and tie and dye shirt surely leave an impact.  It was like a divine intervention from some dope-smoking Jah, telling us that the end is near and we should follow these kids out of Babylon.

They walked on, deeply lost in their conversation, I’m sure they are happy and all they care about is their next joint.  As the bus starts moving slowly, I look back to see if they slipped into a side road, into an abandoned factory, force a garage open, be lucky and find an old mattress throw recklessly in a parking area…but they keep on going straight, always straight, they are making it on purpose, they are making all us workers jealous.  Wait, I don’t work anymore, I quit going to my dead end job last week.  No notice, no nothing.

I don’t know how anyone can complain about unemployment.  Even Jesus gave up his boring job when he felt like, so why shouldn’t I?

When you quit work, you suddenly start taking interest in life.  Getting up late and look forward for the day, look forward to do interesting stuff, meet new people, read weird books, watch art films while downing cheap whisky and go out for the night. No one is gonna complain about my badly exploited red eyes or my lack of interest in middle aged clients looking to remodel their living room."

Ode to Modernism

Three paintings of mine are going to be exhibited during our next collective exhibition at the Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq, opening on the 30th of May.  The theme chosen this time was that of coming up with a personal definition of space.

After weeks of research and loose sketches, I found myself returning the the suburban spaces and environments I have been exploring from time to time in my works.  Starting from other's works, such as those by Bernd and Hilla Becher, writings such as "Invisible Cities" by Calvino and works by J.G. Ballard to personal writings done back in 2011, I am currently working on producing artworks that shows grimy, sterile environments existing under the watchful eye of machinery, but still containing undercurrents of love, beliefs and lust.

Unusual for me, this time I am experimenting with photography.  Mostly using my phone to capture a particular shot, throughout these last weeks I have built up a body of photos showing structures and buildings that I came across unintentionally.

Catching up

Currently I've been working on getting 3 years worth of work all organized, and if possible, displayed.  That took most of December, and it was a welcomed distraction since I wasn't feeling up to creating new works.  Last year was quite full, having exhibited in 7 exhibitions, apart from the work related to the studio space.

One notable point from last year's work was that I worked in sculpture for the first time since 4-5 years.  these structures, exhibited at Xifer exhibition in Sliema, may lead to some large scale sculptures which I plan to work on soon.

So far this year, I am being tougher on myself, and I have been working at a steady rate, producing works and sketches that I am quite proud of.  Here is a detail from one of the new works, entitled "Flat Chests are more Fun".

Things are going smooth at the open studio at Xarolla Windmill in Zurrieq, where are having constant visits by friends and people interested in the arts.  We have teamed up under the name of X242, which is made up of Sabrina Calleja Jackson, Sarah Mamo, Sarah Maria Scicluna, Andrea Zerafa and myself.  At the moment, Gabriel Buttigieg is our guest artist at the space.