Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s creations are in the midst of an identity crisis, and not just because of their abstract quality. Composed of harvested parts of family portraits, popular articles, and advertisements, Quinn’s characters veer between the aesthetically pleasing and the grotesque, and intrigue with their indeterminate gender. For his collection Past/Present, the Brooklyn artist employs numerous materials including black charcoal, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache, oil pastel and cardboard on paper, and their contrast, added to sharp breaks in the composition described as functional geometry, give his hybrid figures a fractured, fragile personality.
Although each piece is an attempt to escape from excessive introspection, Quinn channels his difficult childhood while working; the loss of his mother at a young age and his subsequent abandonment by his father and brothers are among the traumas which are being processed through his work. Troubled, uncomfortably personal but ultimately absorbing, Past/Present is on show at Pace London until 4 October.
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Clown, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
152.4 cm x 111.8 cm (60″ x 44″)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Diane, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
94 cm x 94 cm (37″ x 37″)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Pig, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
127 cm x 96.5 cm (50″ x 38”)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Monique, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
91.4 cm x 109.2 cm (36″ x 43″)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
LaLa, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
152.4 cm x 111.8 cm (60″ x 44″)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Chainsaw Master, 2014
black charcoal, oil-pastel, oil-paint, paint-stick, gouache on Lenox Paper
152.4 cm x 111.8 cm (60″ x 44”)
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
