Instagram: @emilyblairquinn
BIO
Emily Blair Quinn is a multi-media artist whose work investigates the doubleness of the female condition--a dynamic balance between vulnerability and resilience. Utilizing a variety of methods involving paint, wax, clay, and resin, Quinn transforms dollhouses, figurines, and miniatures into theatrical dioramas that serve as the still life for her paintings. Her paintings are psychological landscapes in which negative emotions and meltdowns are facts of life. Quinn's recent exhibitions include “Silent Opera for the Unsound Mind,” a solo exhibition at Marquee Projects in Bellport, NY where she is a represented artist. Her work has shown nationally at galleries and museums such as The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, CO, Viridian Artists in Chelsea, NYC, Joshua Tree Gallery in Joshua Tree, CA, and the Kansas City Artist Coalition in Kansas City, MO, among others. In 2018, she received scholarships to attend artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency. Her work has been featured in various publications and she recently gave lectures at Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Kansas City Art Institute. Upcoming opportunities in 2022 include a residency at ChaNorth in Pine Plains, NY. Quinn received an MFA in Painting/Drawing from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016 and a BFA from Auburn University in 2013. Quinn currently works and lives in Kansas City.
BIO
Emily Blair Quinn is a multi-media artist whose work investigates the doubleness of the female condition--a dynamic balance between vulnerability and resilience. Utilizing a variety of methods involving paint, wax, clay, and resin, Quinn transforms dollhouses, figurines, and miniatures into theatrical dioramas that serve as the still life for her paintings. Her paintings are psychological landscapes in which negative emotions and meltdowns are facts of life. Quinn's recent exhibitions include “Silent Opera for the Unsound Mind,” a solo exhibition at Marquee Projects in Bellport, NY where she is a represented artist. Her work has shown nationally at galleries and museums such as The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, CO, Viridian Artists in Chelsea, NYC, Joshua Tree Gallery in Joshua Tree, CA, and the Kansas City Artist Coalition in Kansas City, MO, among others. In 2018, she received scholarships to attend artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency. Her work has been featured in various publications and she recently gave lectures at Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Kansas City Art Institute. Upcoming opportunities in 2022 include a residency at ChaNorth in Pine Plains, NY. Quinn received an MFA in Painting/Drawing from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016 and a BFA from Auburn University in 2013. Quinn currently works and lives in Kansas City.
STATEMENT
What would it feel like to watch yourself during the unanticipated moments in your life in which whimsy turns to horror? To see the look on your face when you realize that an environment or relationship that once felt secure has become claustrophobic? To explore these questions and more, Emily Blair Quinn creates psychological landscapes in which figurines, dollhouses, and miniatures are metaphors for the mind. She paints disquiet depictions of surreal domestic spaces in which shiny, melting, translucent, ghostly, and fractured female figurines appear to be on the edge of a mental breakdown; their emotional and mental states are manifested through various stages of physical collapse.
Painting is an act of meditation in which Quinn contemplates the relationship between the mind, body, and home. The domestic space is a good metaphor for the psyche because our homes are extensions of ourselves in a way that no other architecture is. They are places of comfort and control where we can be ourselves, but we all know that domesticity has a dark side. Dollhouses provide control over color, composition, and lighting and are loaded with gender associations. Young girls are conditioned to think about their role as homemakers and mothers when they “play house.” Quinn examines her conflicted relationship with domesticity and the ways that women can become trapped, but does so with compassion and hope for the future of feminism.
Quinn’s process begins with a treasure hunt for figurines that seem particularly haunted, sad, pensive, strangely sexual, or otherwise easy to anthropomorphize. To elucidate for the viewer what she sees in the figurines, she transforms them using a variety of methods involving paint, wax, and resin before arranging them in theatrically lit, diorama-like scenes that serve as the still-lifes for her paintings. Her recent work is often born from one of the following playful and subversive experiments with figurines:
What would it feel like to watch yourself during the unanticipated moments in your life in which whimsy turns to horror? To see the look on your face when you realize that an environment or relationship that once felt secure has become claustrophobic? To explore these questions and more, Emily Blair Quinn creates psychological landscapes in which figurines, dollhouses, and miniatures are metaphors for the mind. She paints disquiet depictions of surreal domestic spaces in which shiny, melting, translucent, ghostly, and fractured female figurines appear to be on the edge of a mental breakdown; their emotional and mental states are manifested through various stages of physical collapse.
Painting is an act of meditation in which Quinn contemplates the relationship between the mind, body, and home. The domestic space is a good metaphor for the psyche because our homes are extensions of ourselves in a way that no other architecture is. They are places of comfort and control where we can be ourselves, but we all know that domesticity has a dark side. Dollhouses provide control over color, composition, and lighting and are loaded with gender associations. Young girls are conditioned to think about their role as homemakers and mothers when they “play house.” Quinn examines her conflicted relationship with domesticity and the ways that women can become trapped, but does so with compassion and hope for the future of feminism.
Quinn’s process begins with a treasure hunt for figurines that seem particularly haunted, sad, pensive, strangely sexual, or otherwise easy to anthropomorphize. To elucidate for the viewer what she sees in the figurines, she transforms them using a variety of methods involving paint, wax, and resin before arranging them in theatrically lit, diorama-like scenes that serve as the still-lifes for her paintings. Her recent work is often born from one of the following playful and subversive experiments with figurines:
- pouring and dripping melted wax on them
- laboriously painting intricate china patterns on them before breaking them
- partially gluing them back together
- casting them in resin and shining multi-colored lights on them
- casting them in wax and burning them as candles
- fusing multiple wax figurines together
- building custom figurines out of clay