Ryan explains that from the very beginning he sensed this series would mark a departure. That awareness brought a certain pressure, and the work took time to find its momentum and its place within his wider practice. He wanted it to stand on its own, not as an extension of previous work.
The exhibition develops from the ancient notion of the firmament, once imagined as a dome covering the Earth. Throughout history, people attempted to "pierce the veil" separating the earthly from the divine - from the stepped ziggurats of Assyria to the famous Flammarion engraving, where a figure reaches beyond the edge of the known world. Today, he sees this idea also as an inward act: the daily attempts we make to understand ourselves through reflection, meditation, writing, or service. Piercing the layers we accumulate through life, he says, is a timeless human pursuit.
In this series, symbolism takes a secondary role. Materiality, gesture, and colour come to the fore, and the works emerge as what he calls "suspended lands". The process was organic, with understanding often following the act of painting rather than guiding it.
His studio process remained largely unchanged, as he tends to work in series. While creating Firmament, he was also developing pieces from his Plants and Gardens series, maintaining continuity in gesture, layering, and material exploration.
Writing also plays a role. Together with curators François Zammit and Veruschka Götz, he decided that text should function as artwork rather than explanation. This allows the exhibition to expand across different registers and invites viewers to construct their own interpretations rather than rely on external frameworks. The intention is to position the viewer as a knower - someone who arrives at meaning through personal reflection.
He describes the works as "suspended lands", existing between time and space, within a cosmos that may be beyond us or within us. A work is finished, he says, when it leaves the studio and he can no longer intervene physically - though even then, uncertainty remains. The paintings are not meant to speak outwardly in a direct or confrontational way, but to offer spaces for reflection and contemplation.
In recent years, Ryan's work has shifted from overt political imagery toward more subtle forms of commentary, expressed through still life and abstraction. Domesticity and nostalgia remain present, but the move toward metaphysical themes reflects a personal evolution - a settling after the urgency of early adulthood.
Rather than answering specific questions, he finds himself returning to ongoing reflections on the self, time, terrain, and death.
He sees Firmament as an evolution from Arcana. While Arcana explored duality and the meeting points of the sacred and the profane, Firmament is concerned with transcendence and the beyond. Symbolism becomes more open, forming a kind of universal visual language.
Research into ancient cosmologies can easily become overwhelming, he admits. Selectivity is essential. He looked to artists such as Soutine and Van Gogh for intensity and emotional charge, and to Bonnard for tonal sensitivity. Research becomes distilled into gesture and colour, while writing offers both reflection and an entry point into the paintings.
He hopes the exhibition sparks conversations about the interconnectedness of people, time, and experience - an introspective journey linking past and present.
If he could place one sentence at the entrance, it would be: The firmament is within.
Ryan Falzon's exhibition Firmament is taking place at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta. It is now open and will remain so until 28 June. It is curated by François Zammit and Veruschka Götz