Justin Quinn
Well known as a text based artist, Justin Quinn’s new foray into non-objective painting is more loose and reactive than his previously tightly rendered text based prints and drawings. Known for his multi-year conceptual project creating text based works sourced from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Quinn has purged narrative for a tactile, small scale and process driven approach to painting.
The new work combines atmospheric landscape evocative of the artist’s native snowy Minnesota with loose maze-like geometric abstractions alive with the tension of angled lines and romantic coloration. Working from the outer edge of the surface, Quinn worked intuitively inward painting concentric rectangles toward a center where a formal composition was ultimately resolved. The process of finding center aligns with Quinn’s interest in literal secret or sacred places, with each painting an exercise in finding.
Justin Quinn earned a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and an MFA in printmaking and MA in art history from the University of Iowa. Justin is currently a Professor of Art at St. Cloud State University, and preceding that, taught at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Recent exhibitions include: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama (solo, forthcoming, October 2018); Word Dance : Selections from the Collection of the JoAnn Gonzalez-Hickey Collection, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (2017); Portland Art Museum, Portland, ME (2016); TuckUnder Projects, Minneapolis, Minnesota (solo, 2016); Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, Illinois (2015); University of Nevada, Reno, NV (solo, 2014); The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, Texas (2014); and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota (solo, 2012).
Conduit Gallery Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2018 Auburn University, Auburn, AL
2016 TuckUnder Projects, Minneapolis, MN
2015 Normandale Community College, Bloomington, MN
2014 University of Nevada, Reno, NV
2014 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2014 University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Lacrosse, WI
2012 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN
2010 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2010 Kendall College, Grand Rapids, MI
2009 Cain Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007 Cain Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2005 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2003 A Ramona Studio, New York, NY
2003 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX
2002 Shane Campbell, Oak Park, IL
Group Exhibitions
2017 Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
2016 Portland Art Museum, Portland, MN
2015 Atrium Gallery, Ball State University
2015 Paramount Gallery, St. Cloud, MN
2014 Waiting Room, Minneapolis, MN
2014 The Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX
2014 Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
2014 Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa, OK
2013 Ruffin Gallery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
2013 University Gallery, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
2013 Burnet Gallery at Meridien Chambers, Minneapolis, MN
2013 Helmuth Projects, San Diego, CA
2012 Marina Cain Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012 Staphorst, Galerie Hein Elferink, Staphorst, Netherlands
2012 Kit Schulte Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
2011 Cain Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Kit Schulte Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
2009 Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 Jyvaskyla Art Museum, Jyvaskyla, Finland
2007 International Print Triennial, Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria
2007 808 Gallery, Boston, MA
2007 Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX
2006 Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Musée des Beaux-Arts, Le Locle, Switzerland
2004 13th Tallinn Print Triennial, Rotermann Salt Storage Arts Centre,Tallinn, Estonia
Public Collections
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Berlin Kupfrerstichkabinett, Berlin, Germany
City Of Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts
Jyvaskyla Art Museum, Jyvaskyla, Finland
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Le Locle, Switzerland
Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry, Miami, Florida
University of Minnesota-Duluth, Tweed Gallery, Duluth, Minnesota