Art for our times by Kane Calì at the Malta School of Art

All we did was start a Fire:  

Art for our times by Kane Calì at the Malta School of Art 

A bright, alarming red print midway through a staircase; an austere typeface in the same colour across the cover of the catalogue and a series of fragmented busts hovering upon white plinths. In a solo show installed at (Mikiel Anton Vassalli College) Malta School of Art, Kane Calì presents his latest body of work. Set across classrooms in this beautiful building, his sculptures are juxtaposed with antique casts which students have studied and interpreted for decades.  

This project is a departure from previous work by the artist, creating fragmented images of the human form. In conversation with the politics that dominate the times we live in, these sculptures remind us that humans are at the heart of the environmental, socio-political and technological crises of this world. The sculptures seem to be frozen at a specific moment carefully orchestrated by the artist; a series of breaks which challenge our human form completely. The catastrophe we are creating is applied to our own form. The digital processes the artist uses to create the works are displayed alongside prints and three-dimensional artworks. The materials used are all derived from natural elements but showcase technological innovation and human intervention. 

Fire is the beginning of everything; it showcases the moment man interacted with the world to create a chance for innovation and progress. The exhibition races us to a point where the same fire we started, consumes us and brings us to an end. The backdrop of forest fires, war and climate crises meet the same players which brought about their origin: us.  

The work of Kane Calì positions us at the crossroads between several forces and realities — the natural and man-made; the whole and the fragment; the hopeful and the dystopian; our collective past and an unknown future; intention and chance; the digital and the tactile; the pursuit of beauty and the onset of disaster.  

● Solo Exhibition by Kane Calì, curated by Andrew Borg Wirth  

● Date: August 31^st — September 14^th   

● All Photos by Alexandra Pace  

● Venue: (Mikiel Anton Vassalli – MAVC) Malta School of Art, Old Bakery Street, Valletta  

● Booking Strictly by Appointment on kanecali@gmail.com