Heritage Malta is presently hosting an exhibition entitled Visage featuring drawings, etchings, oils and sculptures by Francesco Astiaso Garcia and Jesmond Vassallo. Following the latter’s 2007 collaborative exhibition entitled Bodies, held at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, this time the preoccupation with the human subject addresses its attention to that broad manuscript of human reactions and emotions – part instinctive, at times choreographed.

The face gives rise to a number of works by the Italian and Maltese artists whose ongoing studies, travels, and encounters have certainly led them to preserve, and artistically nurture and exploit this fascination with the human visage.

The process that has led to these works was one of envisaging, an act that entails observation, interpretation, even imagination and foresight. And it is through such features, such marks or facial impressions, that the artist-observer may form their own impression, their own interpretation of the subject in view. The study of portraiture and the execution of portraits thus become a self-absorbing exercise in forming impressions, in marking one’s way of understanding another’s projected signals.

Whether the facial marks observed gesture an inner reality or act as a visor that shields it, the act of depicting or sculpting becomes an attempt to somehow impress – in the sense of sealing or printing – that outward show with fidelity, and some faith.

Francesco Astiaso Garcia and Jesmond Vassallo have known each other for a considerable number of years, having always shared a passion for art. They both pursued their studies in fine arts, with Francesco having graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, and Jesmond having graduated B.A. History of Art from the University of Malta, after which he left for Italy to follow a four-year course in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara. It is through this exhibition that their names feature alongside one another in their first artistic collaborative feat.

The exhibition of drawings, etchings, oils and sculpture by Jesmond Vassallo and Francesco Astasio Garcia is open until 4 May in the Contemporary Room, National Museum of Fine Arts, in South Street Valletta from 9am until 5pm with the last admission at 4.30pm. Admission to the exhibition is free.