Bio
Jake Quinlan is a contemporary artist living and working in South Wales. His practice is based on the lifestyle and emotional state of the common workingman, expressed through gestural abstraction. Quinlan received a first-class-honours BA from the University of South Wales and was awarded a 2-year fellowship with 56 Group Wales, an exhibiting group of contemporary professional artists working across a wide range of media and concerns.
Artist Statement
In modern social climates, the common workingman continuously feels worthless and undervalued, often invisible to outer society. The struggle to provide a life and a sense of stability for loved ones all too often claims victims into the whirlpool of drink and cards. From my own experience, it feels like we fall into a catacomb of resentment toward ourselves and others. This chaos and desperation are what my work aims to capture. In the literal imagery, I use abstraction to record an expressive moment of angst and frustration that accumulates through the working week. I like to think of my paintings as artistic contradictions: marks rioting with anger and aggression, and overall compositions somehow sitting in an uncomfortable silence, absorbing you while simultaneously rejecting you. Combining various material types and applications, the paintings build until an initial emotion has exhausted itself. As soon as the painting is simultaneously intimidating and comforting to me, only then is it deemed a finished work.
Collections
Cyfarthfa Museum & Art Gallery
The Estate of Dorothy Fratt
Private Collections in the UK and USA
Solo Exhibitions
Coming Soon...
Group Exhibitions
2025 - Imprint - Oriel Glasfryn, Caersws, Wales
2024 - The Big Winter Show - Mid Wales Arts Centre, Powys, Wales
2024 - The Art of Living - The Turner House, Penarth, Wales
2024 - Artists' and Collectors' Fundraising Auction - Oriel Q, Narbeth, Wales
2024 - Mixed Show - Gallery 57, Newport, Wales
2024 - Cowbridge Open Art - The Old Hall, Cowbridge, Wales
2024 - Summer Exhibition - Gallery Gwyn, Aberaeron, Wales
2024 - Summer Exhibition - Oriel Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw, Gwynedd, Wales
2024 - MIR: Open 24 - G39 Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2024 - Red House Museum Open 24 - Red House Museum, Christchurch, England
2024 - Vibrant - Gallery Gwyn, Aberaeron, Wales
2024 - Mixed Show - Studio Cennen, Llandeilo, Wales
2023 - Winter Exhibition: Christmas Print Market - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Christmas Open - Mid Wales Arts Centre, Powys, Wales
2023 - Trails - The Turner House, Penarth, Wales
2023 - MIR: Open 23 - G39 Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Pick of the Degrees - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Gallery Artists - Victoria Fearn Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Misc. - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - End of Year Exhibition - The College Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2023 - Spring Open: Resilience - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Speedball Print Show - Great Art, London, England
2022/2023 - Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting - Pierhead Futures Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2022/2023 - Winter Open- Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2022 - Winter Exhibition: Power - Cynon Valley Museum, Aberdare, Wales
2022 - Portal - Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran, Wales
2022 - Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting - Red House, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2022 - End of Year Exhibition - The College Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2022 - MIR: Open 22 - G39 Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2022 - The Degree Show - Red House, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2022 - Mayhem Collective - Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2021 - End of Year Exhibition - The College Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
Publications
2024 - An Interview with Jake Quinlan - Formation Art (Online)
2024 - A Conversation with Jake Quinlan: Deni Mag. (Online)
2024 - The Flying Fruit Bowl (Online)
2023 - 101 Contemporary Artists: Vol.4. p.14-15 (Printed & Online)
2023 - We Are Zanna Magazine: Everything Is Art... p.9 (Printed & Online)
2022 - Portal. p.20-21
2021 - Perspective Art Project (Online)
Awards and Miscellaneous
2024 - 56 Group Wales: Awarded 2 Year Fellowship
2022 - Artist of the Year, F.D. Art Practice Year 2
Links
56 Group Wales
56 Group Wales is an exhibiting group of contemporary professional artists working across a wide range of media and concerns. As with any group, difference is overcome through dialogue, both spoken and visual. Curation is key in the group’s creative process, and collaboration with curators importantly reveals previously unrealised connections.
