Ex-Miner and full time painter Harry Malkin in late 2024

Ex-miner and full time artist Harry Malkin creates contemporary painting that can hold its own alongside any living UK painter, providing counterpoints and consolidations all the while. His first hand depictions of mining are simply the finest in the UK. "Intimately physical moments of skilled hardwork and imminent danger become almost theatrical in their reach," says gallery director Greg McGee, "There's a cinematic aesthetic at play, almost like when the 1970s film directors darkened their output with a palette that strengthens the story and the message, The opening scene of The Godfather wouldn't have been the same without the chiaroscuro and sense of focus. Harry's art harnesses that, obviously with a completely different subject matter, but the aesthetic is still there. Expertise, intimacy, a knowledge hewn from personal experience how workers look when they're working more than one mile deep underground.”

Recently, Harry has had success at Queen's Mill, Castleford. 'Getting the Coal In', a new exhibition showcasing Harry's wildly wide range of  drawings, paintings, and sculpture based on his lifetime involvement with coal.

Coal is almost by definition a humour-free zone, but true to form Harry has shot through his recent output with Lofty, a mascot-eque avatar who has been with Harry for decades. "Lofty has been in a lot of strange places, " says Harry with a smile, "But these are the only photos I have of him. One is of him coming out of a manhole thirty odd years ago. He was looking for a pit, if you like, like a lot of mates were at the time. Mines were closing at an ever increasing rate leaving men who knew nothing else, scrambling for another job to eat out a pension or a bigger redundancy payout."

Here too is a photo of Harry with, amongst others, Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper. Painting of a vanishing world created by artists with first hand experiences has never been more needed.

For more of Harry's paintings, check: https://accordingtomcgee.com/collections/harry-malkin