Maurice Quillinan — Hambly & Hambly

MAURICE QUILLINAN

’As a visual artist my instinctive response to something that interests me is to draw it, not to make a representation but to understand it through a ritual of repetitive mark-making. It is impossible to understand anything without obsessively, rigorously drawing it over and over again. This ritual obsession negates the need for a beginning or an end, its looking and making, work evolves from work’.
‘As a curator, my primary objective is to initiate and develop links between cultural communities. Art is not made as a one off, but as a mini segment in the artists ongoing dialogue with a subject / philosophy. It is my aim to tap into each participants unique dialogues, link them through a series of cultural events and use these multipartite conversations to engage with the arts community where we are presenting our works. The curation projects only work if the cultural project is able to sustain itself long after the physical exhibition has moved on. This often develops into residencies, collaborations and future joint exhibitions. I firmly believe that we have some of the finest and creative arts practitioners in the world, the only thing restricting our advancement on the worlds stage is financial support. To quote the Ukrainian artist Maria Kulikovska ‘‘Culture is survival’’.

Maurice Quillinan’s work evolves from a search for memory, where he believes that everything we know is in a consistent struggle to become whole again as it was before the universe as we concieve it, began. He also draws figures and horses from old master reproductions and from life. He sees the figures and horses as landscapes in themselves or sculptures in an environment, such as his 2004 Self-Portrait. Quillinan believes we exist as memories, ethereal, multipartite, incomplete particles, constantly in a transitional longing to become whole again.

Maurice Quillinan grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He studied at the Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD), the Royal College of Art, London (RCA), the Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts, Paris and the University of Limerick (UL). His measured tactile method of working manifests as semi abstracted interwoven narratives, explored through a wide variety of media, painting, drawing, print, collage, photography, sculpture and text. Central to his practice is a strong set of spiritual values which underlie his exploration of existence, incorporating the landscape, horses and the human figure as metaphors for the metaphysical challenges we encounter. This internal dialogue manifests as multi layered palimpsests, which suggest that there are many meanings and explanations for the spiritual, psychological and physiological conundrums we collect as memories, which are the building blocks in the dialogue which will return everything to the state from which everything emanated. The paintings are low key in colour, often bordering on the monochromatic. Their sedimentary process of constantly revised mark making, guides the viewer into the memory of the work, which can only exist as a sort of historical loneliness, suggesting that we don’t have the knowledge to ask of, let alone expect coherent logical solutions to the great questions.

His love of music, especially operatic and choral compositions, operate as aide-memoirs, stimulating the emotional and psychological aspect of his practice. Poetry is another exploratory interest, especially the poetry of TS Eliot, WB Yeats, Hanshan (9th century Tang Dynasty poet) and the contemporary American poet Brian Turner. Other interests include Quantum and Super String Theories, and contemporary military history. He completed his thesis at the University of Limerick , researched around the use of helmet camera footage, employed by various participants to record the war in Iraq. This came about as a questioning of the validity and or usefulness of commissioning artists to record modern conflicts in traditional formats.

He has been a recipient of many awards, including: Limerick City Vocational Educational Scholarships (VEC) awards, The Henry Moore Foundation Scholarship, a number of Arts Council awards, Culture Ireland awards, Limerick City and County Council awards and bursaries. He has represented Ireland in exhibitions in many countries, both in one person and group at home and internationally. His works are held in public and private collections in thirty-four countries. .

A selection of Maurice’s work is currently available exclusively through Hambly & Hambly.
All enquiries to: ciara@hamblyandhambly.com

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