Al Weidenbacher (1964-2017) was a self-taught artist who grew up in Chalmette, Louisiana. I met Al in 2015 when he first began painting and was showing his work at a little neighborhood spot, On the Park Gallery. Bob Corrigan, the owner of On the Park was a long-time acquaintance of Al who sometimes helped him out when he got in a jam.  One day Al presented Bob with a painting as thanks for a kind turn and Bob recognized a naïve talent.  After receiving encouragement from Bob, Al became unstoppable; working at a rapid pace he sometimes stayed up half the night making pictures with paint and colored pens as ideas came to him. Al struggled with dyslexia and couldn’t read or write but he sometimes copied sayings that people wrote out for him. Al got much of his inspiration from New Orleans;, he made many images of Charity Hospital, the GNO and Huey Long bridges, the Roman candy wagon, the St. Charles streetcar, Mississippi river boats and the Lucky Dog cart.  He also painted various recurring characters, which include a bear--with or without a diaper on, a cat, a dog with floppy ears, a snake with a hat on, ducks, birds, horses, and a blue alligator.  He painted mermaid figures and unicorns; and he created special works for all major holidays.  The materials that Al painted on were all found in the trash or given to him; sometimes the pieces were very heavy or in bad condition; often he used pre existing holes from which to hang a piece--even if it then ended up hanging upside down!  Such is the world of Al Weidenbacher.

Malarky Art is delighted to announce the arrival of a substantial portfolio of paintings by the surrealist, visionary artist and past resident of New Orleans, Marcel Flisiuk. Marcel lived in New Orleans between 1986 and 2007 where he matured as an artist, producing paintings for album covers, posters, postcards, painted murals, and one refrigerator door on commission. Now living on the Maine Coast, his work has continued to showcase New Orleans influences in his subjects, locations, and colorful palette. His paintings have sold worldwide for upwards of thousands of dollars; this portfolio will be specially priced allowing previous collectors to acquire new works and new collectors to start their own Flisiuk collection!