GIVE THEM FLOWERS: MICHAEL O’MALLEY
It was a Saturday morning in June and I was heading to McCarren Park to attend a NARC.nyc sprint session with my lab-pit mix, Gracie. As she tugged me toward the track with her signature hulk-like pull, I found myself lingering beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, admiring the fresh screen prints and spray-paint murals that pop up like daisies.
Lucky for me, Brooklyn based artist Michael O’Malley was setting up an impressive collection of acrylic paintings on reclaimed cardboard in collaboration with Gallery BQE (more on them soon) and his work stopped me immediately.
Even better, every piece was part of a free community art giveaway.
There’s a beautiful consistency across Michael’s paintings. Every piece feels unmistakably his. The colors are bold, the compositions deceptively simple, and every character carries its own personality - one that’s golden - playful, sincere, and full of charm. His work has a warmth that makes you smile before you even realize why. And somehow, he makes it all look effortless.
Like any creative standing in front of free original artwork, I spent far too long deciding which one to bring home.
One kept pulling me back.
Maybe it was the Knicks colors. Maybe it was the silliness or relatability. Maybe it was because it was one of the largest. Maybe it was simply because it looked deceptively easy—the kind of painting that makes you think, “I could do that,” until you realize just how much restraint and confidence it actually takes. Either way, I liked it cause it made me feel comfortable and less anxious.
It now lives with me. a match made in Williamsburg.
What stayed with me even more than the artwork, though, was meeting Michael himself.
He generously chatted with me in person and later followed through over email. Connections like these don’t always come easily for me, which made the experience all the more meaningful. Artists who are willing to share both their work and their perspective make the creative world feel a little smaller—and much more welcoming.
✿
so I asked him a few questions
…
Mike reminded me that creativity doesn’t have to be rationed. It isn’t something we run out of by sharing; if anything, the opposite is true. The more he creates, the more there is to give. Maybe that was the real gift—not the free painting I carried home that morning, but the quiet permission to keep making the next one.
