The logic of reproducing appearances has been abandoned in Cathy Quinn’s, shimmering, ambiguous landscapes. Factual elements have thus become tangential for Quinn – hers is a subjective vision expressing a yearning for transcendence. She is striving to express a synthesis of inner and outer worlds where the vista is divested of solidity and naturalistic meaning amidst a blaze of glowing hues.

Employing shape sparingly, colour functions as her pictorial language. An intuitive painter, she affirms that the element of chance is an integral part of her process, for in relinquishing some control the narrative reveals itself. Pigment in Quinn’s works operates as more than a brushed-on substance, it saturates the canvas: the fluid depths radiating an intensity of chromatic energy.

Quinn’s uncluttered, luminous subjects permeate starved senses. Her paintings are kaleidoscopic, light-filled realms that aim to change the viewer’s jaded state of awareness. Independent of everyday concerns and perceptions, they project an elevating sense of joyousness.

The exhibition ‘Cathy Quinn – Alternate Reality’ is showing at Anthea Polson Art, from July 16–30. See more information online.