JTF (just the facts): A total of 24 black and white photographs, generally unframed and pinned directly to the wall, and hung against white walls in the single room gallery space. All of the works are gelatin silver prints, made in 2013. Aside from one larger print (sized 40×32 and framed in white, in an edition of 3+2AP), all of the prints are 25×20 (or reverse) and are available in editions of 2+1AP. (Installation shows below.)
Comments/Context: Coming on the heels of her inclusion in the New Photography 2013 exhibit at MoMA (review here), this show offers a look at Eileen Quinlan’s newest directions. Her current project finds the artist starting with more recognizable imagery (portraits, rephotographed snapshots etc.) and exploring gradations of abstraction in a more uncontrolled, gestural manner, experimenting with measured amounts of process decay. Her approach reverberates against the digital tsunami, pulling her back into the darkroom and the interpretative dance of chemicals.
The photographs on view cover a wide spectrum of physical interventions, from barely noticeable scratches and abrasions to complete destruction via crackled, peeled back emulsions and wet, squishy pours. High contrast portraits are dotted with black marks, which evolve into circular spirals, violent back and forth slashes, and expressive washing motions that take over the frame. Liquid intrusions slither from top to bottom, obscuring the underlying imagery like a mudslide, only to be sandwiched and pulled apart, creating networks of fingering tendrils that interlock with the patterns of a lace doily, an array of vertical stripes, and a pair of disembodied arms. Flayed emulsions are stripped away to reveal dense blackness, the remaining husks folding and overlapping like ghostly x-rays, creating a seemingly endless void opening behind the disintegrating imagery. Each method degrades the photographs in alternate ways, iteratively exploring the corrosion of meaning.
While there is some visual similarity to some of James Welling’s recent abstractions here, Quinlan’s images seem more interested in the internal process of destruction. Like a body attacked by a virus, her photographs seem to have turned on themselves, pulling themselves apart from within until nothing is left but a distorted swirl of chemical residue. Fleeting glimpses of something identifiable peek out from the encroaching deterioration, with intent and connection increasingly obscured. The series feels like a balancing test between abstraction and representation, where Quinlan is looking for that tipping point where decay increasingly undermines content, introducing uncertainty.
Collector’s POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The 25×20 prints are $7000 each, while the larger 40×32 print is $9000. Quinlan’s work has not yet reached the secondary markets with any regularity, so gallery retail remains the best option for those collectors interested in following up.
