A Cut Above
Steven Quinn
Ahead of the latest group exhibition with Versus Art, Steven Quinn reflects on his intricate, experimental process — and his artistic vernacular.
When did you start making art, and how did your methods develop?
My Dad taught art, technology & design so creativity was encouraged from a young age. I always knew I would go to art college and during my degree I was exhibiting outside of college work I was confident in. Before that point I wasn’t sure about what I was making so might not have called it ”ART”. I have always loved photography and collage has been a constant in my life from childhood. There is a vintage collection of books we had in our house called Childcraft, particularly the issue ‘Make and do’. The vintage science imagery, colours and creative play it inspired in me as a child still informs me today.
As random as my process is in street photography or collage its execution is quite intentional. With street photography you develop your eye and learn to be ready… always. Collage is somewhat similar to collecting and preparedness and also you never really know what you’ll find. Although sometimes the final product can look different from collage to collage it really is the same process. The difference is the source material.
I might find a book of horses so I make lots of horse based work one week. The next I can make lots of work from car magazines etc. To me it’s all the same but maybe others wouldn’t think so? I don’t really see a difference in the process of photomontage layered work I made as a teenager to what I make now but maybe now I am better?
“Go to exhibitions, go to flea markets and get good at haggling, be competitive and block anyone else making work like yours on instagram, buy books, back up hard drives, be organised and unorganised at the same time, keep multiple ideas in your head always, free your mind, take a camera everywhere”
“I require a lot of source material so buying magazines, ripping up books, cutting and separating and cataloguing images in my head”
Which artists had an influence on you when you began making art? Has this changed over time or do the same artists still influence you today?
My Dad had a lot of art books in our house, mainly A to Z’s or movements. I liked it all but at around 13 or 14 when I was discovering punk I was reading about Dada. Obviously Warhol, Dali & Duchamp work was on my wall along with band posters but Dada seemed fun and had a very teenage appeal. When I finally made it to art college I learned about art history. How one thing leads into the next and back. Things circulate. Bauhaus, Surrealism, Dada, Constructivism and back again. For me two always stood out… Alexander Rodchenko and Man Ray (discovering Dora Maar later after her Tate Modern show in 2019).Now as an artist, people want me to be one thing, do one thing, make one style of work. What I love about these guys still now is they just do what they want. Like I want to do so I do. Make a collage about this thing, go photograph that thing, cut circles for a bit, make an animation today and who knows what tomorrow.
How would you describe your creative process?
My studio has no internet and one bar of phone reception so that helps I think. Go to exhibitions, go to flea markets and get good at haggling, be competitive and block anyone else making work like yours on instagram, buy books, back up hard drives, be organised and unorganised at the same time, keep multiple ideas in your head always, free your mind, take a camera everywhere (phones help), don’t just be on your phone all the time and generally become obsessional to an unhealthy level about most things.
I try to make things every day which is hard as I also freelance as an animator & editor. When I’m not in the mood I generally try to organise folders on my laptop, download high-res images, play around with AI, screenshot something you like, cook, walk or listen to music. All things to help kick start an idea. For me, I require a lot of source material so buying magazines, ripping up books, cutting and separating and cataloguing images in my head and physically is the boring bit. When I do hit the ‘flow state hyper focus zone’, things happen fast because I’ve prepared everything ready to go when I do.
“...making observations of our world now, using imagery from the past, putting it through my Belfast dark humour brain, and like magic there’s an artwork”
How do you decide on a new piece and the elements that it will be composed of, is there a thematic connection between them in the creative process?
I suppose it just depends on any given day. For years I could see how the world was going. I cut up so many magazines from the 20's - 40’s and how things seemed to be repeating. How negative things were becoming so I was making work of how things might look. Joking about it. Playing with context etc like taking a nice 1950’s family from an advertising image cutting it out and placing it in a background of a warzone. My creative process? —basically making observations of our world now, using imagery from the past, putting it through my Belfast dark humour brain, and like magic there’s an artwork. Now, it’s all a bit too real and I’ve started looking at the first work I ever made.
Currently, I’m experimenting with shapes and geometry, colour studies, fine art nudes, and dreamscapes. I have gone off on so many tangents before now I am attempting to bring things together. I’m drifting into escapism and revisiting the roots of what I used to make.
Although I do try and make nice work but things come out weird and I’m ok with that.
Can you explain the significance of surrealism in your work?
Obviously the term has been diluted, overused. Surrealism has become ad-speak. But if you forget all that and look at what the surrealists were actually doing it’s so groundbreaking for the time. It’s still fascinating and influential. It is so ingrained in me I don’t even realise anything I make is surreal, strange or weird anymore. From its uniquely playful dark humour to the lonely isolated beauty of dreamy normality, it is deep in my brain.
As I mentioned it is something I am revisiting… I kind of hate work that is weird for weird’s sake. There is a lot around with AI & digital work at the moment. Obviously there is also some great stuff coming out but for me I work within a fine art context and it’s informed.
At the moment I am making quite traditional surreal 2D collages with fine art nude imagery that I feel is calmer and a little more refined to other work I make. Although… At the same time I’m still making creepy collages, as well as a return to sketchbooking.
Any recent, current or future projects you are involved in that you would like to share?
I basically stopped using Instagram properly for a long while so there is so much stuff I have made no one has seen. More animation will be coming, more collages, at the moment they aren’t as political although I can’t make any promises as this dark era we are in keeps darkening! And one thing I just can’t seem to finish (and is basically 90% done) is a David Bowie robot sculpture “thing”.
I have been selling with galleries in Cornwall and Glasgow recently and my next show is with the new Versus Arts gallery in East London opening on November 18th.
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Steven Quinn Graduated from the Masters in Fine Art programme, University of Ulster in 2009. Now a long time Londoner. Primarily known for his intricately composed collage work often depicting apocalyptic and humorous narratives, he is also a prolific street photographer with both practices forging tendencies towards surreal dystopias and opposing juxtapositions. His work has been seen alongside names such as Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain. Been shown at the National Portrait gallery, the renowned Royal Academy and is a regular exhibitor in London's art scene, Quinn has also been showing his work overseas: New York in 2009, Frankfurt in 2014 and the ARC Gallery in Chicago for the “I can’t breathe” exhibition.
https://stevenquinn.art/
@stevenquinn_collage & @stevenquinn_street on Instagram.
Steven Quinn exhibits at Versus Art from 18th November 2023.
Versus Art
114A Lower Clapton Road E50Q London.
