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Follow this link for printable versionJames Quin’s Constellation Exhibition, York College Gallery
James Quin’s exhibition in the York College Gallery refers not to ‘constellation’ in its celestial sense, being a group of stars that form a recognisable pattern, but rather a group of associated or similar people or things. His paintings are exhibited at the York College Gallery between 7th May and 12th June 2012.
James Quin is a visual artist whose paintings are often described as narratives, exploring the contemporary life from an observer’s point of view. His pictures challenge people’s attitudes by showing the play between reality and unreality with unexpected and twisted outcomes.
This group of recent small scale paintings and drawings are not the result of a narrow thematic investigation, focused on any one particular subject. They function instead as a visual stream of consciousness where connections are made between paintings that generate alternate readings and prompt a related set of images that continue the process.
Between fifteen and twenty paintings are worked on together in order to maximise the potential for each image to subtly alter those around it, like a visual virus, resulting in images that have evolved substantially from their origins.
James was shortlisted for the Northern Art Prize in 2010 and the Liverpool Art Prize 2010 and received the People’s Choice award. He views the world through the filter of ‘unheimlich’, a world where the conventions of linear time and the stasis of place are supplanted by a world of conspiracy, paranoia and sense of dislocation. His drawing and paintings describe a world peopled by the displaced, contained within a familiar, yet alternate landscape of colliding timelines.
Quin says: “I was delighted to be invited to exhibit recent paintings at the York College Gallery. ‘Constellation’ has allowed me the opportunity to show recent paintings that move closer to a position between abstraction and figuration. The process of exhibiting allows me to encounter recent work in a situation at odds to the daily routine of studio practice, reaching conclusion or completion only when it leaves the studio and stands or fails before an audience. This process is a fundamental and invaluable one in the ‘journey’ of the painting. Individual paintings are allowed to enter into significant dialogue with one another in ways that cannot always be predetermined and that might suggest a direction for subsequent work.
Steven Anderson, curator of the York College Gallery says: “What is really interesting about the paintings is their ambiguity. Shapes and forms appear to come in and out of focus and as such the reading of the paintings changes with each viewing. James is a highly regarded artist and his work will be of interest to staff and students.”
James Quin’s ‘Constellation’ runs from 12th May - 7th June in the York College Gallery. (open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday 9am -12 noon).Back to News Stories listing
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