Spotlight / Art Galleries / Malta

LILY AGIUS GALLERY

Lily Agius is a Malta-based curator from London who has established herself with her many exhibitions presenting emerging and established artists from Malta and various countries over the last 15 years. Agius ran a successful art gallery in the commercial district of Sliema for 12 years before going nomad again this year, in search of unique spaces. www.lilyagiusgallery.com

Marie Gallery 5

Founded in 2016, by Maria Galea, Marie Gallery 5 launched with a goal to represent the most promising artists and exhibit their work both locally and internationally. Having represented local artists in international art fairs in New York, Miami and Dubai, the gallery has established itself as a space dedicated to cultivating and promoting local artists through a new lens. The Gallery offers several curatorial services which enable collaborations with corporate and hospitality companies. The latest collaboration has been that of the Iniala Harbour House Hotel in Valletta, whereby the gallery curated all the spaces within the hotel representing over 18 artists now part of the permanent and private collection. www.mariegallery5.com

Valletta Contemporary And Gozo Contemporary

The Malta Society Of Arts

BLITZ

Blitz, founded in 2013, is an artist-run contemporary arts space housed in a four-level Valletta townhouse, which was the family home of founder Alexandra Pace’s grandparents and previ ously left empty for over 30 years.

Blitz has become a reference for contemporary art in Malta. Since its inception, Blitz has formed an identity and a presence that has extended beyond the island to the international art world, through prominent collaborations with institutions such as Royal College of Arts (London), Central Saint Martins University of the Arts (London), the European Graduate School (EGS) and the annual Network of European Museum Organizations conference (NEMO). www.blitzvalletta.com

MUZA

MUZA, the national museum of fine arts, was formerly located at Admiralty House between 1974 and 2016. It houses a collection of works by Maltese and international artists mainly representing the major European artistic styles. www.muza.mt

Valletta Contemporary collaborates extensively with local and international organisations and collectors, running regular outreach programmes and diverse educational and knowledge-sharing initiatives. Each aims at establishing a meaningful connection between the local community and contemporary art. The gallery also runs a thriving education programme, whose spirit holds parallel with director Norbert Francis Attard’s residency programme, Gozo Contemporary (launched in 2001), an endeavour that introduces artists and creative practitioners to Gozo’s offering as an inspiring creative environment with opportunities for exploration and discovery within a Mediterranean setting. For more information, contact the gallery via email at info@vallettacontemporary.com www.vallettacontemporary.com

The Art Galleries of the Malta Society of Arts (MSA) are housed on the upper floor of Palazzo de La Salle, one of the first grand palaces to be built in Valletta at the end of the sixteenth century. The four inter-linked rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art lighting facilities and offer an uninterrupted programme of monthly exhibitions open to the public all year round. In addition, the MSA issues regular calls for artists to submit exhibition proposals, which an independent Arts Advisory Board reviews. During the past century and a half, the Society has sponsored many of Malta’s bestknown artists through bursaries and prizes. At the time when Malta’s Modern Art movements were flourishing, the Society was associated with many high-profile artists such as Antonio Sciortino, Anton Inglott, Ganni Bonnici, Willie and Vincent Apap, Emvin Cremona and Carmelo Mangion. Many local and internationally wellknown artists, sculptors, photographers, and installation artists have exhibited at the MSA in recent years. www.artsmalta.org

ART SWEVEN lI-Kamra ta’ Fuq is a new exhibition venue, situated on the first floor of the iconic New Life Bar (a typical hanut tat-te’), in the quaint village of Mqabba. Monthly exhibitions are held at this venue, curated by the Art Sweven team. www.artsweven.com

R Gallery

R Gallery is a contemporary art space located in the heart of the bustling seaside town Sliema in Malta. Built as a British military hostel at the turn of the 20th century, the art nouveau edifice has been transformed from a place of sanctuary for soldiers into a spacious vessel for bold art and events. www.rcontemporaryart.com

Roza Kwir

Roza Kwir opened last year in the central town of Balzan. It was co-founded in 2021 by multidisciplinary artists Romeo Roxman Gatt and Charlie Cauchi, and began as a digital archive compiling LGBTQ+ histories and narratives. Now branching out into a physical space, the venue is looking to expand the narrative around queer identity in Malta and beyond. What sets Rosa Kwir apart from similar LGBTQ+ cultural ventures is its emphasis on the experiences of trans men, transmasculine people and gender-non-conforming individuals. This is, in part, inspired by elements of cofounder Roxman Gatt’s practice, which he describes as including “documentation and archiving of trans and queer experiences” as well as the “critical observation of macho behaviour, specifically in relation to Maltese men”. www.rosa-kwir.com

Spazju Kreattiv

Spazju Kreattiv is in the heart of Malta’s capital city, Valletta. Situated in Castille Place and a few metres away from MUZA, Auberge de Castille, Parliament and Upper Barrakka Gardens, Spazju Kreattiv is the perfect stop for anyone visiting Valletta. With something always going on related to any and every art form, there’s always something at Spazju Kreattiv for everyone. Spazju Kreattiv is a programme of creative arts and cultural events happening primarily across Malta and Gozo. Established by Fondazzjoni Kreattività in the year 2000, it is in St James Cavalier, Valletta, a 16th-century fort converted into the National Centre for Creativity. Spazju Kreattiv hosts a range of visual arts exhibitions in the gallery spaces, performances in the theatre, films at the only arthouse cinema on the island, workshops in the studios, an artist-in-residence programme, and tailored events for children and their families. www.kreattivita.org

01. ELISA VON BROCKDORFF LOBSTERS Limited edition print, signed 60 x 90cm, unframed £450 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 02.GABRIEL BUTTIGIEG ON LITTLE HANS’ FEAR OF HORSES (AND MAX GRAF), 2023 Willow charcoal, white emulsion, acrylic paint and satin varnish on raw linen 120 x 130cm stretched £1,750 info@christinexart.com 03. ALEXANDRA AQUILINA STRAWBERRY WIGGLE 2 colour screen print, No. 5 of 10 editions, signed 22 x 22cm £90 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 04. PATRICIA O’BRIEN TWIST OF FATE, 2022 Mixed medium on canvas 100 x 100cm £1,150 info@christinexart.com 05. CO-MA EST.RANGE Charcoal on Canson 180gr ‘C’ grain paper 32 x 48cm £1,050 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 06. MARIO ABELA EARTH JUICE, 2022 Oil on canvas 100 x 80cm £1,700 info@christinexart.com 07. JAMES MICALLEF GRIMAUD STATE OF LIMBO Fabriano printmaking rag 310gr, no. 9 of 10 editions, signed 60 x 40cm unframed £175 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 08. JULIEN VINET ANCIENT OLIVE Ink on paper monoprint 60 x 80cm, unframed £880 info@lilyagiusgallery.com 09. STEPHANIE GALEA LEANING IN COLOUR Acrylic paint on silver gelatin handprints on RC photographic paper, shot with Pentax 67 medium format camera 72 x 62cm, framed £700 info@lilyagiusgallery.com