Quentin Curry

Quentin Curry describes his work as “exploring the personal epic through painting”. Curry`s large-scale landscapes visually narrate scenes from everyday life, suggesting a poetic transience where reality and imagination interpenetrate, creating sublime moments of self-realisation or affirmation. Rendered with a broody, yet unmuddled palette, Curry’s paintings of the exterior world become open metaphors for interior projection and contemplation; his images of industrial wasteland, a waterfall, or a simple view through a window imbue the humble and forlorn with a quiet, rarefied beauty. Curry evokes the layered perceptions of his work through a unique painting process of mixing stone dust with enamel paint. Covering the surface of his canvas with a ‘screen’ of porous fabric, Curry applies the paint in thick impasto and then peels the fabric away, leaving a heavily textured image where the paint has been 'pressed' through the holes. Building up his images through a process of adding and removing these layers, Curry¹s images gain a pixelated effect conjuring both the virtuality of digitised media and the weathered look of ancient frescoes. Through his distinctive aesthetic, Curry’s introspective paintings describe contemporary experience with a timeless spirituality; his surfaces transforming into figurative microcosms, with each tiny dot becoming a diffused entity both isolated and compounded within the whole. In the vein of traditional American landscape painters such as Thomas Cole or Frederick Church, the heightened expanses of Curry’s tableaux convey a sensibility of Milton Avery. Curry endows the modern landscape with a similar awe and solitude, evoking a sense of discovery and promise with an eloquent poignancy. Quentin Curry describes his work as “exploring the personal epic through painting”. Curry`s large-scale landscapes visually narrate scenes from everyday life, suggesting a poetic transience where reality and imagination interpenetrate, creating sublime moments of self-realisation or affirmation. Rendered with a broody, yet unmuddled palette, Curry’s paintings of the exterior world become open metaphors for interior projection and contemplation; his images of industrial wasteland, a waterfall, or a simple view through a window imbue the humble and forlorn with a quiet, rarefied beauty. Curry evokes the layered perceptions of his work through a unique painting process of mixing stone dust with enamel paint. Covering the surface of his canvas with a ‘screen’ of porous fabric, Curry applies the paint in thick impasto and then peels the fabric away, leaving a heavily textured image where the paint has been 'pressed' through the holes. Building up his images through a process of adding and removing these layers, Curry¹s images gain a pixelated effect conjuring both the virtuality of digitised media and the weathered look of ancient frescoes. Through his distinctive aesthetic, Curry’s introspective paintings describe contemporary experience with a timeless spirituality; his surfaces transforming into figurative microcosms, with each tiny dot becoming a diffused entity both isolated and compounded within the whole. In the vein of traditional American landscape painters such as Thomas Cole or Frederick Church, the heightened expanses of Curry’s tableaux convey a sensibility of Milton Avery. Curry endows the modern landscape with a similar awe and solitude, evoking a sense of discovery and promise with an eloquent poignancy. Quentin Curry describes his work as “exploring the personal epic through painting”. Curry`s large-scale landscapes visually narrate scenes from everyday life, suggesting a poetic transience where reality and imagination interpenetrate, creating sublime moments of self-realisation or affirmation. Rendered with a broody, yet unmuddled palette, Curry’s paintings of the exterior world become open metaphors for interior projection and contemplation; his images of industrial wasteland, a waterfall, or a simple view through a window imbue the humble and forlorn with a quiet, rarefied beauty. Curry evokes the layered perceptions of his work through a unique painting process of mixing stone dust with enamel paint. Covering the surface of his canvas with a ‘screen’ of porous fabric, Curry applies the paint in thick impasto and then peels the fabric away, leaving a heavily textured image where the paint has been 'pressed' through the holes. Building up his images through a process of adding and removing these layers, Curry¹s images gain a pixelated effect conjuring both the virtuality of digitised media and the weathered look of ancient frescoes. Through his distinctive aesthetic, Curry’s introspective paintings describe contemporary experience with a timeless spirituality; his surfaces transforming into figurative microcosms, with each tiny dot becoming a diffused entity both isolated and compounded within the whole. In the vein of traditional American landscape painters such as Thomas Cole or Frederick Church, the heightened expanses of Curry’s tableaux convey a sensibility of Milton Avery. Curry endows the modern landscape with a similar awe and solitude, evoking a sense of discovery and promise with an eloquent poignancy.