David Quinn makes modestly sized, abstract paintings on paper, wood and more recently perspex. He has developed a large body of work to a uniform size of 8 x 5 1/2 inches which originated in notebooks he kept as a design student. He will exhibiting a new series of work for his solo show at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre.

“intense small works…that hover between drawing and sculpture, to share something of the aesthetic of Roger Ackling and Agnes Martin.” 
Sue Hubbard

“Each painting is a unit, both unique and part of a greater whole: words in a sentence, notes in a tune, hours in a day,”
Riann Coulter

“Each finished piece embodies a momentary, fleeting wonder that beauty can be won back from time.”
Aidan Dunne

“Quinn’s darker, delicate abstracts keep calling you back till you wonder why you’re falling in love”
Gemma Tipton. The paintings are abstract and explore the poetic possibilities of line, texture and form.

‘…[W]ith David Quinn there is this oscillation between work that meets us head on, whole, and work commences with detail, section, before building into its wholeness. The latter work takes its vocabulary from the elements of the building site – off-cuts, odd shapes, of plywood, MDF, Perspex. These elements are scored and bound together with glue or screw. Their presence on the gallery wall seems to challenge the order of architecture, to undermine the plumb and the level, to tilt us into asking where they get their authority from, how can they, from such abject origins, get to take the place of ‘art’. His larger works impact first and then invite analysis, proving that their ‘overall-ness’ is won through dense, obsessive actions. And it is this notion of labour, of work, that unites his two approaches. It is his valuing of toil, whether by the artist or the construction worker, that can take the ordinary and transform it into art or architecture.’
Patrick T. Murphy, Director, Royal Hibernian Academy

David Quinn will present an Artist’s Gallery Talk on Tuesday 6 March at 5:30 pm. No booking necessary, all welcome.

David Quinn was born in Dublin in 1971 and now lives in Co. Wicklow. Recent solo exhibitions include blank (2016) Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast; seam (2015) and dunkelbunt (2014) Taylor Galleries, Dublin. Recent group shows include Small (2017) Purdy Hicks, London and Two Birds/One Stone (2016) Farmleigh, Dublin. He received the Tony O’Malley Studio Residency Award in 2015. he is working towards upcoming exhibitions in London, Navan, Dublin and Skibbereen. He is represented by Taylor Galleries, Dublin; Purdy Hicks, London and Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast.  www.davidquinn.ie