Nathaniel Mary Quinn (1977) is an American painter. Quinn is known for his collage-style composite portraits that feature disfigured faces.[1][2]

Nathaniel Mary Quinn
BornApril 23, 1977
EducationCulver Military Academy
Wabash College (BA)
New York University (MFA)
Notable workCharles, 2013
Richard, 2014
Motorcycle Pig, 2014
Junebug, 2015
SpouseDonna Augustin-Quinn

Early life

edit

Quinn was born in Chicago, where he grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes on the South Side.[3][4] In his ninth grade of high school, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Culver Military Academy in Indiana.[3][5]

While he was at Culver, Quinn's mother, Mary, died. He later legally adopted the middle name Mary in memory so her name would appear on his degree.[6]

When he returned home for thanksgiving a month after Mary's death, Quinn found the family home empty and his father and brother had gone. They left without a trace.

He was determined not to become impoverished and homeless, so he focused on completing his education.[7]

Career

edit

After graduating from NYU in 2002, Quinn continued to live in Brooklyn, where he continued to paint while teaching disadvantaged kids through Exalt youth program.

In 2004, Quinn and author, Quanica A. McClendon, published a children's book called "Suit Shoes." Quinn used oil and canvas for the illustrations.

In 2013 he made his first major hit painting Charles. It was the first he made with his distinct collage-inspired style. He made a painting based on five photographs which produced an amalgamation resembling the smirk of his long-lost brother, Charles.[7]

The artwork was shown in a home-based art salon run by the mother of one of his students. It caught the attention of the executive director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn, who showed it in the museum's window.[6]

In 2014 he held his first solo show at Pace Gallery in London.[5]

During the fall of 2018, Quinn's work was included in a group show at The Drawing Center.[8] Quinn's first solo museum exhibition, This Is Life, was presented at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin, from December 2018 to March 2019.[9]

His work is included in the collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami,[10][11] Whitney Museum of American Art,[12] the Hammer Museum,[13] the MOCA,[14] and the Art Institute of Chicago.[15]

In 2019, Quinn became represented by Gagosian.[16]

References

edit
  1. ^ Frank, Priscilla (9 September 2014). "Disfigured Portraits That Would Make Even Francis Bacon Shudder". HuffPost.
  2. ^ Ollman, Leah (6 June 2018). "Like song sampling as painting: Nathaniel Mary Quinn's puzzle-like portraits of personhood". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  3. ^ a b Morris, C. Zawadi (16 December 2014). "The Amazing Story of Nathaniel Mary Quinn and the Day he Decided..." Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  4. ^ Scott, Andrea K. (15 September 2018). "Nathaniel Mary Quinn's Cubist Portraits Address the Psychic Ruptures of Gentrification in Brooklyn". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019 – via www.newyorker.com.
  5. ^ a b "Nathaniel Mary Quinn: Artist who grew up in Chicago poverty chooses". The Independent. 4 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Nathaniel Mary Quinn". Gagosian. April 2019.
  7. ^ a b Irwin, Michael. "Nathaniel Mary Quinn". Ocula.
  8. ^ "The Drawing Center | New York, NY | Exhibitions | Upcoming | For Opacity". www.drawingcenter.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  9. ^ Journal, Robyn Norton | Wisconsin State (2019-01-06). "On View: 'Nathaniel Mary Quinn: This is Life'". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  10. ^ perezartmuseummiami (2021-08-24). "See Major Works That Pérez Art Museum Miami Has Added to Its Collection". pammportraits.org. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  11. ^ "Pérez Art Museum Miami Announces New Acquisitions by Thirteen Artists for Permanent Collection • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  12. ^ "Class of 92". whitney.org. Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  13. ^ "Dirty Protest: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection - Hammer Museum". The Hammer Museum. 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  14. ^ "Nathaniel Mary Quinn". www.moca.org. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  15. ^ "Nathaniel Mary Quinn". The Art Institute of Chicago. 1977. Archived from the original on 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  16. ^ Russeth, Andrew (2019-04-04). "Gagosian Now Represents Nathaniel Mary Quinn". ARTnews. Archived from the original on 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
edit

Interview: "Was The Art Worth All The Pain?" on To the Best of Our Knowledge