Mean Ass Barbara

Mean Ass Barbara demonstrates his unique approach to portraiture: highly expressionist with exaggeratedly scaled features and evocative of collage. Quinn draws or paints each distinct feature and texture into his portraits using construction paper to work on one section at a time. Direct and tactile in method, the effect is unsettling, abject, intriguing and grotesque. Mean Ass Barbara includes exaggerated nostrils, lips, and eyes, an expressive use of color, typical of Quinn’s major influences—Cubism, Surrealism, Francis Bacon and Romare Bearden. Like many of his other portraits, this piece could be considered a "likeness" (Quinn’s own term for his portraits which blend recollection and imagination).

From Curatorial Rec, Liz Munsell and Marina Tyquiengco, 12.15.2020