Kate McQuillen

Kate McQuillen (b. 1979, Boston) is a Brooklyn-based painter. She is represented by Massey Klein Gallery in New York. Recent exhibitions include solo and group shows at Massey Klein Gallery (New York, NY) and Coherent Gallery (Brussels, Belgium).

She was a founding member of Super Dutchess, an artist-run project space on the Lower East Side. Writings about her work have been included in the Brooklyn Rail, Art in Print, Hyperallergic, and The Chicago Reader. She has attended residencies in the U.S. and abroad, including Mass MoCA, Ox-Bow, and the Frans Masereel Centrum. She holds degrees from Massachusetts College of Art (BFA), and York University (MFA).

Kate McQuillen’s paintings on panel are hyper-flat, with ghostly images embedded in the surface. Viewed from the side, there is no discernible texture, and gradients of color shift in hue and intensity. The artist creates the work by combining tactics found in acrylic painting, watercolor, and silkscreen. Specially modified paint is applied to the surface in a single stroke, passing through a screen which measures out the application of paint in a super-fine layer. Each layer of paint spans multiple hues, creating a smooth gradient effect, and subsequent layers are applied at opposing angles, resulting in a range of colors.

EXHIBITION:
Kate McQuillen, I Forget the Details