Martin Maloney London, UK, 1961
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© Nicholas Sinclair. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2022 -
Martin Maloney is a British painter whose work came to prominence in the 1990s within the context of the Young British Artists.
Lives and works in London, UK
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He studied at the University of Sussex, followed by Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London, the School of Visual Arts in New York, and Goldsmiths College, University of London. This diverse academic background shaped a practice grounded in figuration while remaining attentive to modernist concerns of color, structure, and surface.
Maloney describes his work as a tribute to ordinary people—a form of social observation translated into painting. Through exaggerated figuration and humorous distortion, he offers a perceptive study of everyday life. Caricature and absurdity are not merely stylistic choices; they become tools for capturing the contradictions and peculiarities of contemporary existence. At the same time, his work engages with the deeper tradition of genre and portrait painting, drawing inspiration from classical masters such as Nicolas Poussin, Jean-Antoine Watteau, and Johannes Vermeer.
While some critics associate his paintings with naïve or childlike art, Maloney embraces this view as an affirmation of his approach.
“What they really mean is: ‘We admire your ability to effortlessly breathe life into complex color relationships—typically associated with abstraction—using figurative elements. We’re drawn to your focus on the quiet but meaningful details of daily life, shown simply and naturally. We’re captivated by your directness and grateful for the unfiltered pleasure you convey in your work.’”
Maloney’s portraits are not driven by the pursuit of photographic resemblance. Instead, he seeks to expand the language of figurative painting. His compositions feature luminous, often clashing colors, broad areas of flat tone, and patterned details that echo across figure and ground. Clothing motifs frequently merge with landscape elements, transforming the image into a unified, decorative composition.
In the early 2000s, Maloney began incorporating collage into his practice. His portraits and landscapes—built from thousands of colored vinyl stickers—form densely textured, vibrant surfaces that shimmer with visual energy. This technique recalls the crystalline articulation of surface found in the work of Mikhail Vrubel and continues Maloney’s exploration of expressive texture. He refers to his style as “the language of expressive painting”: marked by clarity of color, fluid mark-making, inventive compositional rhythms, and bold, unexpected juxtapositions. Within this visual vocabulary, one can trace echoes of the celebratory depictions of Edward Burra and the emotional intensity of Edvard Munch. In Maloney’s work, painterly freedom meets psychological insight, resulting in a distinctly contemporary form of expression—bold, playful, and profoundly human.
Selected Public Collections and Exhibitions
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal
Fundación La Caixa, Spain
Bonnier Collection, Sweden
Kunsthalle Mannheim (Neue Kunsthalle IV: Direct Painting, 2004)
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Brooklyn Museum, New York (Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, 1997)
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