Gabriel Caruana (1929-2018) was a firm believer that art is meant to be accessible to everyone and experienced through participation. Caruana created points of entry for public engagement in his works through material, colour, scale and, at times, humour. This belief sets the tone for the exhibition Gabriel Caruana: Public - Play - Private, which traces his commitment to bringing art into everyday life.
Caruana was a prolific artist whose ceramics, reliefs and public installations shaped modern art in Malta across six decades. His playful works are reminiscent of Malta's landscapes, colours, and aesthetics, reflecting his desire for art to be accessible to the public. Public installations by Caruana are found in Malta, Austria, and Italy.
The exhibition traces the connection between art and everyday life through sculptural totems, mixed-media painting, archival material, and photography, revealing an artist for whom the studio was never enough. Caruana carried his practice far beyond its walls and into village squares, carnival parades, gardens, hotels, industrial sites, and schools, treating public space not as a backdrop for art, but as its natural home. Play, material, and accessibility sit at the centre of this impulse - art made to be touched, encountered, and lived with, rather than simply observed.
From these shared, often unruly spaces, the exhibition follows Caruana's journey inward, toward a more introspective and reflective body of work. In doing so, it invites the viewer to sit with a quieter question: it asks the viewer to consider what it means to sustain openness in a world where communal spaces are increasingly privatised, contested, and transformed.
Public - Play - Private will be showcased between 9 October and 23 January 2027 and is the second in a series of exhibitions by the VP Gallery celebrating the Maltese modern art period, following Emvin Cremona's The glass collage in 2025.
As a gallery rooted in Malta, it is vital for us to spotlight those artists who worked concurrently, or sometimes in dialogue with Victor Pasmore, while celebrating their contribution to Malta's modern art legacy. As always, collaboration remains an important part of our curatorial process. The exhibition is accompanied by a soundscape by Chris Galea, responding directly to the curatorial note. This exhibition is in collaboration with Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and the Gabriel Caruana Foundation.
The gallery's opening hours are Mondays to Thursdays between 10am and 5pm (last entry at 4pm); Fridays between 10am and 7pm (last entry at 6pm); Saturdays between 10am and 3pm (last entry at 2pm).
Tickets can be purchased at the door.
The VP Gallery is located at APS House, 275, St Paul Street, Valletta.