Ged Quinn (born 1963,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

) is an English artist and musician. He studied at the Ruskin School of Art and St Anne's College in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, the Slade School of Art in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Rijksakademie in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He now lives and works in the UK. Quinn has exhibited internationally in many shows including 'FOCUS: Ged Quinn' at the

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

, Texas, US, 'Endless Renaissance' at Bass Museum, Miami Beach, 'Beyond Reality: British Painting Today' at Galerie Rudolfinum in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, and 'Newspeak: British Art Now' at State Hermitage Museum,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia. He was represented by Wilkinson Gallery and is now represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. In addition to his work as an artist, Quinn was a member of the 1980s new wave musical groups the Teardrop Explodes,

the Wild Swans "The Wild Swans" () is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen. The tale was first published on 2 October 1838 in Andersen's '' Fairy Tales Told for C ...

and the Lotus Eaters, and co-wrote the latter band's 1983 hit single " The First Picture of You".

Work

He specialises in

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

paintings that include contemporary images (generally on controversial topics in Western

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

) in idyllic scenes based on classical paintings such as the

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

works of

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

and

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

. For example, his "Cross in the Wilderness" introduces a miniature

Spandau Prison Spandau Prison was a former military prison located in the Spandau borough of West Berlin (present-day Berlin, Germany). Built in 1876, it became a proto-concentration camp under Nazi Germany. After the Second World War, it held seven top Nazi l ...

, the iconic jail for

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

war criminals, into a forest scene based on "Der Chasseur im Walde" by Friedrich, a leading painter in German

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

. Another painting, "Darkening of the Green", places the controversial

HM Prison Maze HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...

into a rural landscape. Despite the familiar aspects in Ged Quinn’s use of painting techniques—ranging from the classical and Romantic traditions of European landscape, such as

, to the American Sublime—his introduction of incongruent and often disturbing imagery, disruptions of scale, and an undercurrent of religious sensibility and political and cultural iconography creates a sense of haunting and dislocation. In Quinn’s work, the landscapes themselves have a visionary character, providing an unfolding freedom that is a boundless showground for significance. There are circulations, juxtapositions, and layering that allow for a large amount of readings and narratives to develop and disappear. There is a constant sense of play both between and within the imagery, which gives space for meanings, yet ultimately denies the satisfaction of any final explanation. There is an energy that moves throughout his works, which is in part driven by Quinn’s surreal and radical methods of composition and use of imagery. In conflicting and irregular landscapes, there are complex voids and structures. Quinn is celebrated for his densely layered paintings that transform art historical techniques into contemporary experience. His paintings critique cultural icons through intervention, rather than through strict representation, with concepts of historicity and the collapse of boundaries between the internal and external, all working in definite ways to generate a stimulating political and cultural dialogue. He works in meticulous detail and executes with extraordinary technical skill. Multiple histories, narratives, and mythological emblems collide.

Selected exhibitions

Solo

*2017 ''Rose, Cherry, Iron Rust, Flamingo'', Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, China *2016 ''Ged Quinn'', Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK *2014 ''Ged Quinn'', Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK *2013–14 ''Ged Quinn'', New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands, UK *2012–13 ''Endless Renaissance'', Bass Museum, Miami Beach, USA *2012 ''FOCUS: Ged Quinn'',

, Texas, USA *2010 ''Ged Quinn'', Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK *2010 ''Somebody’s Coming That Hates Us'', Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK *2007 ''My Great Unhappiness Gives Me a Right to Your Benevolence'', Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK *2005 ''The Heavenly Machine'', Spike Island, Bristol, UK *2004 ''Utopia Dystopia'', Tate St. Ives, UK. *1994 ''Oxide Cinema'', video media installation, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Group

*2018 ''Richard Patterson , Ged Quinn'', Galleria Mucciaccia, Rome, Italy *2017 ''Synthetic Landscapes: Reviewing the ideal landscape'', Meadow Arts and Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, Weston Park, Shifnal, UK *2015 ''CLASSICICITY: Ancient art, contemporary objects'', Breese Little, London, UK *2015 ''Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition'', Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK *2015 ''Homeland: Glenn Brown, Dexter Dalwood, Ged Quinn, Toby Ziegler,'', Simon Lee HK, Hong Kong, China *2014 ''Somos Libres II'', Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy *2014 ''Cake and Lemon Eaters: Viktor Pivovarov and Ged Quinn'', Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic; The Gallery of Fine Arts in Ostrava, Czech Republic *2014 ''Landscape 2000'', Osnabrück Cultural History Museum and Felix Nussbaum Haus, Osnabrück, Germany *2013 ''Looking at the View'',

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, London, UK *2013 ''The Future's Not What It Used To Be'',

Newlyn Art Gallery Newlyn Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Newlyn, Cornwall, UK. Opened in 1895, designed by James Hicks of Redruth and financed by John Passmore Edwards the gallery was conceived as a home and exhibition venue for the Newlyn ...

, Penzance, UK *2013 ''Disaster/The End of Days'', Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France *2012 ''The Endless Rennaissance'', Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA *2012 ''Beyond Reality: British Painting Today'', Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic *2012 ''Everywhere and nowhere'', Reydan Weiss Collection, Oberstdorf, Germany *2010 ''The Witching Hour, Waterhall'', Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK *2010 ''Chambres à part IV: Mascarade, A proposition by Laurence Dreyfus'', Paris, France *2010 ''Restore Us and Regain: Ged Quinn, Tommy Grace, Tony Swain'', Mackintosh Museum, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK *2010 ''Lust for Life & Dance of Death'', Olbricht Collection, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria *2010 ''Newspeak: British Art Now'', Saatchi Gallery, London, UK *2009 ''Newspeak: British Art Now'', State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia *2009 ''Kunskog, Five Hundred Dollars'', London, UK *2009 ''Kings, Gods and Mortals'', Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin, Germany *2008 ''John Moores 25'',

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

, Liverpool, UK *2008 ''Made Up, Liverpool Biennale 2008'',

Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The gallery was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporatio ...

, UK *2008 ''Jekyll Island'', Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva, Switzerland *2008 ''Doktors Traum, Olbricht Collection—New Aspects'', Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany *2008 ''Monochrome: Drawing & Prints'', Rabley Drawing Centre, Wiltshire, UK *2007 ''Stranger than Paradise'', Galerie Charlotte Moser, Geneva, Switzerland *2007 ''Rockers Island'', Olbricht Collection,

Museum Folkwang Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patr ...

, Essen, Germany *2007 ''Salon Nouveau'', Engelholm Gallery, Vienna, Austria *2006 ''Collezionami, 2nd Biennale of Southern Italy'', Puglia, Italy *2005 ''The Real Ideal'', Millennium Galleries, Sheffield, UK *2005 ''Wonderings…'', Waugh & Thistleton, London, UK *2005 ''ShowCASe'', City Art Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland *2005 ''MOSTYN 2005'', Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales, UK *2000 ''Brooks Quinn Voss'',

, Penzance, UK *1999 ''Show'', Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY, USA *1999 ''IWPC 10'', Museum of Recent History, Ljubliana, Slovenia *1997 ''Performance, video installation with Oliver Herring'',

Camden Arts Centre Camden Art Centre (known as Hampstead Arts Centre until 1967 and Camden Arts Centre until 2020) is a contemporary art gallery in the London Borough of Camden, England. It hosts temporary exhibitions and educational outreach projects, with a prog ...

, London, UK *1995 ''Language of the Wall'', Museum of Contemporary Art, Ljubliana, Sloveni

Collections

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, London, UK, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA, Honart Museum, Tehran, Iran,

, Texas, USA, Olbricht Collection, Essen, Germany, Saatchi Collection, London, UK, Tate Collection, London, UK, Tel Aviv Art Museum, Israel, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, K11 Art Foundation (KAF), Hong Kong

Fellowships and residencies

*1995 ''British Council bursary'' for Slovenia *1993 ''NUFFIC bursary'' for Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands *1988 ''DAAD Scholarship'', Germany *1987 ''Boise Fellowship''

Selected publications

*20 Years, essays by Stephen Friedman and Sarah Thornton (2015), Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (catalogue) *Cake and Lemon Eaters. Viktor Pivovarov & Ged Quinn (2014), Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic *Ged Quinn, text by Michael Bracewell and Dr Brian Dillon (2013), New Art Gallery Walsall, West Midlands, UK *Ged Quinn: FOCUS, text by Andrea Karns (2012), Fort Worth Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (exhibition brochure) *Ged Quinn (2011), Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (catalogue) *Lust for Life & Dance of Death (2010), Olbricht Collection, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria *Newspeak: British Art Now (2010), The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK *Newspeak: British Art Now (2009), The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia *My Great Unhappiness Gives Me a Right to Your Benevolence, text by Michael Bracewell (2007), Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK

References

External links

Ged Quinn at Stephen Friedman GalleryInterview for Vernissage TV at 2012 Frieze Art Fair
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Ged Living people 1963 births Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art English contemporary artists English new wave musicians English keyboardists English male songwriters The Teardrop Explodes members The Wild Swans members The Lotus Eaters (band) members