Laconic

Image details:

Laconic: 30 in. x 44 in. (76 cm x 112 cm); oil and acrylic on canvas

Suppose: 31 in. x 47 in. (80 cm x 120 cm); oil and acrylic on canvas

Special: 31 in. x 47 in. (80 cm x 120 cm); oil and acrylic on canvas

Suppose

Christopher Quirk’s paintings have been exhibited since 1990, in galleries both in the United States and abroad, including the Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL), the Alice K. Rogers Gallery at St. John's University (Collegeville, MN), the Emily Lowe Gallery at Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY), Temple University Rome Gallery, the Armory for the Arts (Santa Fe, NM), and Around the Coyote Gallery (Chicago). In recent years he has received grant awards from The Kittredge Fund, of Augusta, Maine, as well as Change, Inc., and the Artists' Fellowship, both of New York City, and was selected by Malcolm Morley for a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

He holds an M.F.A. in Painting from the Tyler School of Art in Rome and Philadelphia, and an M.A. in Liberal Education from the Graduate Institute of St. John’s College in Santa Fe. He and the artist Amy Madden married in Montagnana, Italy, in 2002.

I direct the focus in my paintings to the viewer experience, and away from the notion of the painting itself as a bearer of content. Discordant components and qualities in each painting pose questions for the viewer, suspending resolution, and provide a space for the viewer’s own meditations. The idea is to give, not tell, and for the painting to provide an experience that unfolds over time. The writings of Jean-François Lyotard and Anne Carson, the poems of Paul Celan, the works of Robert Irwin, the films of Nathaniel Dorsky, and my readings in Buddhism and haiku all resonate in my work and have informed its evolution.

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