His art installation was considered potentially libellous and banned from an exhibition, but university lecturer Raphael Vella has still found a place to expose his Pornolitics - a set of politicians' images superimposed with erotic silhouettes.
The place that accepted to exhibit the piece is St James Cavalier, a centre of creativity in Valletta, built and owned by the government.
Not only that, but rather than taming his work, Dr Vella said he has spiced it up, promising an interactive experience on opening night that will leave politicians baffled as to who the artist behind the piece is, and by default, leaving them no one to sue.
"This one is called Pornolitics Remix," Dr Vella said excitedly.
St James Cavalier director Chris Gatt said the exhibition presented to him was different from the one presented to the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts last month and had "none of the same legal problems".
Dr Vella is ready to face the music if any politician dares to take him to task, even though he thinks it is highly unlikely anyone would do that, especially those working in Brussels and accustomed to European contemporary art.
"It would make them the laughing stock of Europe," he said.
"At first I wanted to leave this to people's imagination and let them fantasise whatever they want. But now I've decided to clear my name and show people how mild it is compared to what they have built up in their heads," he said.
"What scares me more than libel is people are going to come expecting much more than they are going to see," he joked.
The piece was originally created for the Life Model, a collective exhibition organised by the council bringing together the work of several other artists. It was excluded because, among other things, it included an image of the President.
But Dr Vella has insisted his work is not explicit and does not show politicians having sex. All it is, he says, is a symbolic metaphor.
"Just like pornography is the illusion of sex where the actors have fake breasts and pretend to enjoy themselves, politics is all about the manipulation of media and creating the right package," he had told The Times when interviewed last month.
But now, since the piece is to be exhibited on its own, Dr Vella has had to enlarge it, creating what he calls an "open-book format" where people will have to involve themselves in the piece and "take certain decisions".
He said one of the reasons he decided to exhibit it was that he had received lots of e-mails of support, including from politicians who said it was "ridiculous" an artist of his stature was excluded from such an exhibition. Some had even told him the assumption they would sue him was more offensive than any artistic representation could be.
"But I also did it for my students, because I felt that by removing my art piece the council had unwittingly passed judgment on me as a lecturer. I always tell my students to be open-minded and take risks in their work. If I backed down now, what message would that send to them?"
Dr Vella says this piece is not his best "artistically". However, he values the fact it is unique since Maltese art has "religiously avoided politics" for a long time.
He said he might also be writing a book about his experience, together with a New York-based art professor who found the whole thing ludicrous.
"What I hope is this whole incident will encourage other artists to be free in their expression. Because if we lose that freedom, believe me, there is nothing left in us," Dr Vella said.
Yesterday, council chairman Adrian Mamo stressed that as a publicly funded body the council could not go against its legal advice not to exhibit the piece.
"Admittedly the line between freedom of expression and the protection of the rights of the individual against attacks on his/her reputation (and the Law of Data Protection) is a fine one, and at most, the MCCA may be criticised for having taken the cautious side," he said, adding the council had no intention of sidelining the issue of artistic freedom of expression or of censorship.