Added Oct 7, 2014
'Rupert Cefai - A contemporary regionalist...and more' by Karl Micallef
Despite my dislike of categorisation of art, broadly speaking, Rupert Cefai’s art can be grouped into landscape paintings and figurative works.
Cefai’s landscape art is quintessentially a celebration of the Mediterranean and, in particular, the Maltese 
lifestyle. His palette, albeit rich in tones, is often limited to the warm spectrum, echoing sunshine and hues which evoke the timbre of a well-developed Maltese stone patina. Cefai does not opt for realism, probably deliberately: the urban landscape is in a constant state of flux, even if at times to its own detriment, a fact perhaps defined by the often turbulent brushstrokes. Yet, even in their often abstract nature, the paintings’ thematic capture the essence of the islands’ identity: the fortifications, the cubic architecture, the mass and solidity of stone and inevitably topped by the Baroque dome. Cefai’s mastery of ink wash reflects his strong architectural background but nonetheless departing from strict and rigid draughtsmanship to create fresh and vivid works which, like a photographic camera, capture a moment in time the streetscapes which define the Maltese urban fabric.
The artist’s versatility is celebrated in his creation of layered digital artwork and figurative painting, particularly his “Tiers of truth” series, which I had the privilege of viewing in his London exhibition. Here, Cefai is inspired by ordinary daily activities, such as café or village festa life, characters from literature or movies, to deconstruct and thereby illustrate various facets of life reproduced through seemingly banal subjects. My personal favourite is “Ridi, Pagliaccio” – where the figure of the clown could be a metaphorical image of society’s forgers of smiles or, conversely, those in a constant painful struggle to live up to the pressures of today’s society and faking a smile to meet its demands. Cefai, in his unique style, thus employs art to explore metaphysical, intangible matters, consciously or perhaps in a state of mind at play, and provoke the viewer’s thought via the canvas. The limited but tough collection of portraits is another observance of the still relevant role of art to capture the essence of a moment, even in an age where (digital) photography is so widely accessible, ironically portrayed in “La donna gravida”.
All this forms the basis of my judgement of Cefai: he is an important contributor to Malta’s 21st century artistic legacy, both in the parochial sense, thanks to his robust repertoire of landscapes, but also on a broader (possibly deeper) level by way of his figurative works. Cefai’s works are evidently a strong and passionate tribute to the Maltese cultural heritage and a source of inspiration to anyone who, like myself, has this at heart.
Karl Micallef, PhD
Architect/structural engineer,
Foster+Partners (London)