“As a gallery — and personally too — I’ve always been drawn to the human figure. There is something both vulnerable and powerful in the way the body is interpreted through art,” says Rosanna Ciliberti of Art by the Seaside. “Be it sketched in haste or painted with precision, the figure allows us to confront the essence of identity, movement, and expression. Over the years, we’ve seen how strongly people respond to such work — often asking themselves why certain figures draw them in more than others, and what it is that makes one human form feel more relatable, evocative, or familiar than another.”
With this in mind, Art by the Seaside is proud to present Figure Me Out, a collective exhibition centred on the human form, featuring six artists: Edoardo La Francesca, Ethelbert Perini, Richard Saliba, Mark Callus, Jeni Caruana, and Alison Agius. Each artist brings a distinct perspective, a personal style, and a deep commitment to life drawing — all the works in this exhibition are drawn from live models, adding a sense of immediacy, dynamism and authenticity to every piece.
What makes this exhibition particularly compelling is the variety in process. Many of the works are created during time sessions, capturing the energy of a pose in just five minutes or allowing it to unfold over the course of an hour. This creates an expressive tension between spontaneity and study, between gesture and form. Some works are left raw and unfinished, preserving the moment of contact between eye and paper, while others are completed later — once the artist feels the muse to return and continue building upon the initial observation.
There are also playful and imaginative elements at work. In some pieces, the body of one model is fused with the face of another, or replaced entirely with an imagined expression. These subtle distortions and decisions speak to the creative process and the artist’s interpretation — not just of what they see, but what they feel, remember, or invent. The result is a body of work that lives between observation and invention, realism and suggestion.
Ethelbert Perini’s contributions were drawn from life models. “Some are really quick sketches where I have to be economical with the lines aiming for the gist of the pose and movement,” he says. “Others are more studied drawings but took no longer that 90 minutes. I challenge myself to work instinctively and avoid overworking on the drawings. My credo in these circumstances is that ‘less is more than enough!’
Also working with live models, and inspired by reality, Edoardo La Francesca depicts one male and the one female figure. The aesthetic is classic, rooted in the style of Old Masters’ paintings.
Alongside four nude drawings, Richard Saliba’s fifth work is an oil painting that depict two nude figures either resting or asleep. “In most of my figurative works I normally seek to make the viewer guess what message I would wish to convey and, therefore, leave the subject to interpretation,” says Richard.
Mark Callus also has five new works in the show, all created specifically for this exhibition. “I am choosing poses that capture strength and vulnerability, both of which, as endlessly contemplated in philosophy, are natural traits of the human condition,” he explains.
Alison Agius’s pieces were mostly created specifically for this exhibition; others emerged from other moments in time. “This blend allows me to present not only the shifting moods of the models I depict, but also my own evolving states of mind,” she explains. “As artists, we move through many phases—and this collection reflects that journey, revealing a range of emotions, expressions, and ultimately, a sense of versatility.”
“The theme of the show comes quite naturally to me—it is the essence of my practice. Weekly sessions with life models allow me to immerse myself in the quiet poetry of the human form, capturing its gestures, moods, and the subtle stories etched in every pose.”
Sometimes, I begin with only a whisper of an idea—a fleeting impression of what I see. From that haze, the figure gradually emerges, finding its way to the surface. At times, it reveals itself through the gentle rhythm of a continuous line; on other occasions, it bursts forth in bold, swift movements, pigment carried by sponge in gestures that feel almost instinctive. That is where the magic lies.”
“A case in point is The Lady With The Bun — brought to life through swift, fluid movements that captured her essence and form in a moment, in contrast, more pigment and weight and pressure of the hand created deeper values and a sense of heaviness, together with just a few instinctive lines—delicate yet deliberate—revealing only the most essential points and shapes, allowing the viewer’s eye to fill in the rest.”
Notably, much of the exhibition focuses on the female form. This wasn’t a curatorial direction but a natural inclination across the participating artists — a point which, in itself, opens up a conversation on representation, form, and aesthetic bias. The curve of a hip, the softness of a shoulder, the angle of a neck — these details carry centuries of artistic inquiry, and yet in each of these works, they are explored anew.
Figure Me Out is not only an exploration of the human figure, but of the ways we observe, react, and create. With its rich diversity of style and approach, this exhibition invites visitors into the artist’s studio — and into the ongoing story of the figure in art.
Figure Me Out runs from 7pm Wednesday May 15 until May 28, in Art by the Seaside Gallery, 65, Triq il-Mina tax-Xatt Senglea.
