Fresh Starts

This first post for 2015 finds me gearing for up a collective exhibition at out studio space at the Xarolla Windmill, Zurrieq. This is the first exhibition after my solo exhibition from last September, which was followed by two months of collaborations on various projects, mainly designing a publication and directing poetry videos for Tahziz2 with Mauro D' Amato, and working with Glen Calleja on a KREATTIV project entitled "Chances of Punishment", done in conjunction with St. Edward's College.

Unfortunately, due to various commitment, we have to pause the idea of an open studio at the Xarolla Windmill during the weekends. We are really grateful towards Zurrieq Local Council and Mr. George Sammut for their continuous help.This coming exhibition features all the artists who, so far, have collaborated on the idea. As agreed in the beginning of the initiative, we, as artists, aim to inject contemporary art appreciation in communities, meaning that we feel the need to create projects in different locations. Anyone interested in any collaboration can contact me on falzonryan@hotmail.com .

"Suddenly, Everbody is in the Charlie Army" is a series of small pen and wash drawing I did after the attacks of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Rather than dealing with the nature of such attacks, I had a problem with how everyone felt so militant and politically active just because murder was close to home.

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.