The Valletta Cultural Agency has opened Antler Cry, a solo exhibition by Maltese artist Anthony Catania, at the National Museum of Archaeology, running until the 11th January 2026.
The exhibition draws on the ancient myth of Actaeon, the hunter who enters a sacred grove and accidentally witnesses the goddess Diana bathing. As punishment for seeing what he was not meant to see, he is transformed into a stag and ultimately killed by his own hounds. Within this thematic framework, Catania examines vision, consequence, and the price of transgression.
For the artist, the pivotal moment is the instant of forbidden sight — when you perceive something that can wound — and the chain of consequences that inevitably follows.
“In this exhibition, the artist touches the nerve of human sensibility and measures its pulse,” said Catherine Tabone, Chief Executive Officer of the Valletta Cultural Agency. “Fully aware of the power that stories have on the human psyche, the myth is here brought to life through a rereading that is nothing short of spectacular.”
“Anthony Catania’s Antler Cry is the gaze, rendered in oil and pastel and choreographed in space. It is a profound and terrifying body of work that solidifies his position not merely as a Maltese modernist, but as a fearless and essential poet of the European macabre,” stated Curator Dr Jean Pierre Magro.
Catania does not retell the myth. Instead, he uses it as a mirror to explore the cost of seeing what we are not meant to see. His canvases, marked by violent strokes, dark hues, and raw texture, challenge the comfort of the spectator. Each painting is a psychological excavation, exposing the hidden tensions beneath our polished surfaces.
Malta, Catania’s birthplace, is both muse and mirror. The island’s sun-soaked beauty, layered history, and tension between the sacred and the profane pulse through his work. His figures — rough, distorted, and almost clawed from the canvas — carry the influence of Francis Bacon while retaining a uniquely Maltese gravity.
The exhibition begins quietly with Whispers in the Ashen Thicket, a deceptively still scene charged with tension, and builds to Antlered Transfiguration Under Death’s Gaze, a monumental canvas depicting metamorphosis and chaos. Standing before it, viewers confront both awe and unease — perhaps even the psychological punishment of Actaeon himself.
Catania’s work reminds us that truth is not always gentle, and beauty can wound as much as it reveals. In an age of fleeting images, Antler Cry demands attention, reflection, and feeling.
Entrance to the exhibition area is free of charge. Opening Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily (closed 19, 24, 25, 31 December and 1 January). Exhibition tours and Meet the Artist sessions are taking place on the 6 and 13 December and on the 7th January at 11am.
For further details visit the Valletta Cultural Agency’s website Events page and Facebook page.
Photos: Vince Piscopo/ Josmar Muscat
