I have quite a history with Henry. I met him and his lovely wife Dona, for the first time, some 25 years ago! We had some common friends in a Land Rover club and we spent quite a few Sundays in Selmun as one is supposed to do within a Land Rover club. Around 15 years later, I was co-curating an exhibition at Studio 104 in Valletta and one of the applications had the name of Henry Falzon - it didn't even ring a bell, as the Henry I knew back then, nor myself, had any particular connection to art. The Henry-Falzon-proposal was accepted, and you can imagine my surprise or rather, both our surprised faces when we met in the gallery. We were both at the start of our artistic careers and there was no turning back, for either of us.

In the meantime, Henry became one of the most established pastel artists on the island, known mostly for landscapes and compositions capturing the non-expected angle. He's also very much into printing, and he has produced works in various techniques. During one of my studio visits, I also got to dab my hands into the "scary" reduction linocut printing technique.

When I invited Henry to hold an exhibition at il-Kamra ta' Fuq, he immediately said he would like to explore and research, a theme that was a gamble for him and also a theme that got him out of his comfort zone. He explained that due to an unforeseen episode, he found himself spending several months in hospital wards, surrounded by the fragility of "body parts" in their most vulnerable states. The lack of free time stopped him from searching for landscapes for his works, but creativity knows no boundaries, and his new and unforeseeable surroundings triggered the inspiration to start exploring the human body.

All the works in the exhibition Corpus et Partes are executed in oils, apart from a series of limited edition signed and numbered mezzotints.

The artwork, which is perhaps the most inclined towards sickness and damage, is the very small work titled Scar, which shows a primo-piano of a scar, all stitched up. Another work is shying away from depicting aesthetic beauty, where Henry is showing a pair of feet, aptly titled Well-used feet, as in fact the pair of feet depicted have suffered quite a lot, showing signs of deformity and ample "wear and tear".

The most sensual of the lot is a pair of lips, belonging to an anonymous and invisible face. In fact, the set of mezzotints titled Unspoken shows the same pair of lips executed in different monotones, and in a very Andy Warhol style. The very ornate framing chosen for these small works, gives them a hint of grandeur and adds to the seduction aura of belonging to a femme fatale.

As always, I am allowed to have a favourite and this time, it's Put your feet up. The work shows a bird's eye view of a bathtub, from the thighs downwards, including the iconic rubber duck. The work is executed in a very grayish and somber palette, which contrasts a lot with the supposedly light-hearted composition, and there starts boggling my mind. The duck seems to be suspended in time and the prop almost takes over the main subject, that of the legs.

Moving on to nudes, one feels that Falzon quite restrained himself here. In fact, even though we have six works in the nude, all of them are very wittily "covered" either by masterly cropping and focusing on specific areas, or by the employed model's pose. Bronze Girl shows a female torso frontal view, but the model's arms cover the breasts. In Gold Line we see a sleeping figure from the back, emphasising the spine. We have half a male torso, which takes over all the picture composition, while the work Seated Pose is cropped to show specific parts of the arms, belly and thighs.

Another interesting work is a fully clothed curvaceous female figure, again anonymous, cropped from the neck down, sporting a striped off-shoulder top and jeans. In another work, Falzon decided to dress the skin this time, where the main subject is a tattooed arm, reminiscent of the iconic Mr Clean in his signature crossed arms pose and legendary white t-shirt, as highlighted by the title The New Mr Clean. The tattoo shows three words entangled in a composition made up of roses, namely Faith, Truth, Fore[ver].

The tour-de-force and largest piece within the exhibition is titled Emerald Girl, executed in oil on canvas, again showing an anonymous female, cropped from the lips down. She's dressed in a top made up of several intertwined leaves - designed by the artist - and sporting a very generous cleavage, which acts as backdrop to the prop which again, majestically takes over. A necklace with a huge spider pendant with a giant emerald diamond. It is a very complex work, both in its execution and its composition. The dark brown background is void of any details. The outfit is unfinished towards the bottom part of the work, in fact, one can also see the continuation of the leafy pattern in pencil. All this contrasts beautifully with the spider pendant which is executed in pain striking hyper-realism. The light captured by the emerald is reflected on the skin, emphasising the striking 3D effect.

Falzon considers this work as a teaser of things to come. So, buckle up and get ready to be astonished furthermore, in the near future!

Falzon embarked on his artistic journey in the early 1990s, delving into Black & White photography during his late teens. For Henry, capturing moments on film became a method of exploring and projecting his unique perspective on life and the surrounding world. His focus has consistently revolved around seizing moments and presenting them in a manner that conveys a statement or leaves a lasting impression. Frequently, he challenges himself to present familiar views from unconventional angles.

Being entirely self-taught and starting on unconventional paths in art endows Henry with a remarkable degree of mental freedom and uninhibited approaches. His art adheres to no rules or conventions, driven only by the enthusiasm to use art as a medium for telling his story.

The exhibition 'Corpus et Partes' is on at il-Kamra ta' Fuq until 3 January. For more info, follow il-Kamra ta' Fuq on Facebook and Instagram.