Kate McQuillen

b. 1979; Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

Kate McQuillen's work visually seeks abstract imagery that communicates this same experience of that which is familiar but still unknown. The artist's paintings are hyper-flat and have a deeply matte surface. This allows the viewer to experience the painting without any visual obstruction, creating a feeling as though one might be able to enter each pictorial atmosphere. The artist premixes her colors then paints, layer after layer, a thin and precise application of acrylic through silkscreen. Alternating the direction of the screen and cultivating imperfections and chance happenings through her materials and process, the artist achieves organic imagery that champions and magnifies elusive moments.

Spontaneous optical effects and patterns within each piece appear and disappear, dipping in and out of color fields. These moiré patterns illustrate information that has yet to solidify, like a radio station fuzzing in and out of reception. Vibrating, hazy, erased lines and shapes occupy rich spaces, and simple, repeated patterns are easily registered by the brain, triggering a desire to look deeper into the works.