Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s “In the Valley” is on view at Almine Rech in Aspen, CO, through June 20. In the solo exhibition, Quinn unfolds his pictorial world that merges Cubism, Surrealism, and more, with his fractured portraits on paper and linen.
Known for his depiction of figures through fragmentation, the artist’s work is often associated with papier collé used by masters like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Quinn’s paintings, however, go beyond drawing external elements to create a heterogeneous imagery.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, “Brim,” 2021, black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel on Coventry Vellum Paper, 16 x 13 in, courtesy of Almine Rech.
“When facing a painting by Quinn, we behold a nascent, complex, and diverse homogeneity,” writes Théo de Luca from the Department of History of Art at Yale University. “Quinn’s paintings nonetheless hints at something deeper: painting’s enduring network of relationships between the parts and the whole.”
The complexity of human emotion is captured by Quinn through the clever juxtaposition of the beautiful and the grotesque, both individual and representative of the human condition.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, “Thought He Hit The Lottery,” 2021, oil paint, paint stick, oil pastel, soft pastel, black charcoal, gouache on linen canvas stretched over wood panel, 36 x 36 in, courtesy of Almine Rech.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, “The Gray,” 2021, black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel, oil paint, paint stick on linen canvas, 14 x 11 in, courtesy of Almine Rech.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, “In The Valley” at Almine Rech Aspen, photo by Tony Prikyl.
