StoreBilly Quinn
b.1954
Billy Quinn was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1954 and studied at the National College of Art and Design. He moved to London to study at City and Guilds and North East London Polytechnic. In the 1990s, he moved to New York. His work addresses AIDS and his Roman Catholic upbringing. It combines photography, painting, installation, and performance. He was an artist in residence at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and his work has been exhibited in Ireland, the UK, and the United States.
1
Marcel Visiting My Studio in Manhattan, West 28th Street, in 1990
(see image 12/12)
(see image 12/12)
Yes, I know it’s impossible. Yes, I know he died in 1968.
The studio and work is real, and the ‘eejit' holding the sign is actually me.
The handheld sign reads ‘Denial of Burial and Other External Crosses’, this was a leftover from an intolerant religion, and its approach to ‘outsiders’, homosexuals, non-believers, blasphemers, witches, whomever.
Having found myself in the midst of a community of the above described, a community facing a plague, I also found myself looking for a way to lionise us, to protest our worthiness.
The 24-carat gold sentence, stencilled on the board was part of the ‘modus operandi’ of the 'Spanish Inquisition', that idea that those found to be ‘outside the pale’, the undeserving, would be denied christian burial and the other "external crosses" which would manifest as torture, the rack, the garrucha, thumbscrews and head crushers, and the ferocious ‘Iron Maiden’. Much art and energy was expended in this proselytising, and chastening, direction.
I love antidotes.
I like putting Duchamp there. He always showed me the way, which is a strange idea considering his work seemingly bears no visual connection to mine. He is beautifully refined, I am vulgar to my core. I had already written my initial degree thesis on Marcel, and had gone on later to develop this into a doctorate.
That’s art, what can I say? Ideally one inspires work that can go in any direction, can even cross boundaries across disciplines, can become writing or even science, fiction or otherwise. Having no control over this is a wondrous gift.
Anyway. I decided that we deserved 24-carat gold, that we were as equally deserving as the saints and potentates of this tyrannical religion, the one I knew so well from a sorely abused childhood.
We can do this now, these crude mash-ups, but hopefully in the future these will be seamless, blending then, now, and what is to come, and what might be, even.
I still have hope. This surprises me, but there you are. Learning to truffle it out can take a lifetime.