Peter Quinn RWS: Días Soleados

3rd May - 29th June 2019
Peter Quinn RWS:
Días Soleados

Just seeing Peter Quinn’s bright watercolours is like taking a holiday, immersing yourself in the vibrant colours and spirit of foreign cities, each work capturing a true sensation of its location. Whether painting vivid street scenes in Crete or Mexico City, verdant riverside scenes in London or Glasgow, or the architectural wonders of Venice and Ljubljana, each image has its own life and vitality.

 The street is a constant source of inspiration for Peter; rather than typically ‘picturesque’ views, Peter’s work celebrates forgotten corners, hidden sights, and the wear and tear of urban life. This show explores the markets and street-sellers of Mexico, Spain and Portugal, transporting us through the scenes’ rippling light, lively colour and sparkling atmosphere, particularly in pictures of Chiapas in Southern Mexico. His paintings seem to focus on the subtle details in the scene: the passers-by, shopfronts and road signs that make up our real world.

 This focus on more everyday panoramas disrupts the hierarchies typical of landscape and street-scene painting: because an interest in formal aspects come before subject in Peter’s work, the colours of an ice cream truck, dilapidated café, or canal boat give them the same reverence as a grand Italian palazzo or significant London monument. He is not seeking to document a location, as much as record a moment in time, or a feeling of place.

Several are worked on at the same time, arranged around Peter’s studio, so one can be progressed while another dries. There is an element of chance and chaos in the process as fluid paint is laid down, balanced by confident lines giving definition and shape. Each of Quinn’s paintings is a voyage of discovery in its own right, born from an accumulation of quick decisions, fleeting marks, and considered analysis.

 Peter graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1986. He continues to exhibit regularly in London, Newcastle, across Scotland and abroad, including shows in Italy, Malta and China. Peter was elected a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 2011.

Exhibition now extended until 29th June! Artists Talk: Peter will be in the Gallery to talk about the show on the 19th June at 6.30pm

Images all © Peter Quinn, 2019

All works are available for sale