Painting by Emily Blair Quinn

Bio

Emily Blair Quinn received an MFA in Painting/Drawing from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016 and a BFA from Auburn University in 2013. Her 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 glimpses into her internal monologue or mindscape, in which she contemplates her conflicted relationship with domesticity and acceptance of negative emotions and meltdowns as facts of life. 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, the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, AL, and the Kansas City Artist Coalition in Kansas City, MO.  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 works in Kansas City, MO.

Installation by Emily Blair Quinn

Artist 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 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. Her 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 Quinn sees in the figurines, she transforms them using a variety of methods involving paint, wax, and resin and then arranges them in theatrically lit, diorama-like scenes that serve as the still lifes for her paintings. Although the viewer is aware that the objects are frozen in time, the composition suggests the possibility for movement or narrative, which heightens the overall atmosphere of stillness and silent anticipation. Quinn uses dark humor and bright colors to engage viewers, making her work a catalyst for conversation that acknowledges and normalizes feelings of isolation, loneliness, and loss.  
www.emilyblairquinn.com

Painting by Emily Blair Quinn
Painting by Emily Blair Quinn
Painting by Emily Blair Quinn
Painting by Emily Blair Quinn
Painting by Emily Blair Quinn
Painting by Emily Blair Quinn