Martin Maloney (born 1961) is a contemporary artist and primarily a painter, who has worked with the Saatchi Gallery.

Martin Maloney was born in London. He attended the University of Sussex 1980–83, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design 1988–91 and Goldsmiths College 1991–93.

Martin Maloney practises deliberately "bad" painting, where images (mainly figures) are achieved with apparently inept draughtsmanship and crude painting. He sees his work as a celebration of "the ordinariness of people", and wanted to elevate, for example, the stereotype image of the socially-deprived single mother. He has also said:

He has been accused of making "childishly sweet and banal figure paintings" by art critic Julian Stallabrass."Don't Talk Maloney", Adrian Searle, ''The Guardian, February 1, 2000 Retrieved April 11, 2006

He was an exhibitor in the definitive Sensation show at the Royal Academy, London, in 1997.

He has worked in liaison with Charles Saatchi at the Saatchi Gallery to present two shows of Neurotic Realism at the end of the 1990s with the intention of launching a movement to succeed Britart. However, Saatchi did not manage to replicate his earlier success and the project was abandoned.

He currently lives and works in London.

See also

• Sensation exhibition
• Young British Artists
• Saatchi Gallery

References