Malarky in Spitalfields

We have had a lot of Malarky in Spitalfields recently. It started up in Hackney, where I first saw Malarky, but then I spotted Malarky in Whitechapel. Next, Malarky was in Brick Lane and a moment later in Redchurch St and, the other morning, Malarky in Hanbury St too. These days, I am surrounded by Malarky. At every corner that I turn, I see all kinds of Malarky. Malarky is everywhere in Spitalfields now!

Walking the streets of Spitalfields daily – a veritable Sistine Chapel of Street Art – I am constantly aware of the ever-changing gallery, as rival artists put up their latest works in the hope of drawing popular attention. Among the members of this random academy, many painters strain for significance with elaborately contrived works that might equally be seen inside an art gallery. But then along comes Malarky, a Street Artist from Barcelona, with joyful paintings that have brought the surreal revelry of a Catalan carnival to these East End streets as an exuberant compensation for this feeble Summer.

In common with the work of Ben Eine, these are happy paintings that lift the atmosphere of the street, and in common with fellow Catalan Joan Miro, Malarky has his own vocabulary of brightly coloured creatures. There is a fox and a cat, a chick with no legs, a pear that drives a car and a robot with light bulbs for eyes. These characters are shape-shifting all over Spitalfields now, with or without limbs, with variable numbers of eyes and decorated with different patterns and textures.

Most impressive is the vibrant mural in Redchurch St – a frieze of fifty foot in length – that portrays a parade of Malarky’s freaks with big carnival heads, and their little stripy legs visible, running along underneath. With uncanny prescience, this painting completed in July is entitled the Malarkistani Riots – “reports of wild beasts everywhere and looting of vintage furniture shops and high end boutiques.” Yet just in case anyone should find these sprites and bogles threatening, Malarky emphasises, “they’re not angry, they’re just too friendly.”

In Brick Lane

In Whitechapel

In Sclater St

In Brick Lane

In Hanbury St

In Brick Lane

In Redchurch St

In Whitechapel

In Brick Lane

In Whitechapel

In Brick Lane

In Redchurch St

In Redchurch St

Click to enlarge the Redchurch St frieze

In Redchurch St

In Hanbury St

In Hanbury St

In Hanbury St

You may like to follow Malarky’s blog and see his flickr pictures,

and you may also like to read about

Ben Eine, Street Artist

and

Roa, Street Artist