Susan Quinn

After a working life in the allied health industry, I came to art late. I began playing catch-up in 2004, starting with a Diploma of Fine Art & Design at Utas and culminating in 2019 with a PhD. During those years of study, responding to briefs (often my own, although with a purpose), my current approach explores how I respond to themes that excite me, delight me, bring me joy. I respond to curiosity at whim.

Process fascinates me; I am mindful of the materiality of surface, how surface might influence perception or individual engagement with the work. I further strive to connect with clarity and purity of colour; as individuals, I believe perception of colour is subjective, dependent on vagaries of light intensity. I am influenced by several artists, too numerous to mention.

My colour ‘hero’, however, is James Turrell whose lifelong interest in light and colour is infused with complexities of next-level mathematics, geometries, psychology and perception. Insomuch as colour is a major contributor to my artmaking, my approach is simplistic, often in a minimalist, colour field aesthetic.

Responding to life at whim means I maintain a fresh approach in my studio through ongoing engagement with the materiality of mixed media processes in multiple interconnecting perspectives; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t – that’s what life is about!