Jake Quinlan

Jake Quinlan is a contemporary artist living and working in South Wales. His practice is based on the lifestyle and emotional state of the common workingman, expressed through gestural abstraction. Quinlan received a first-class-honours BA from the University of South Wales and was awarded a 2-year fellowship with 56 Group Wales, an exhibiting group of contemporary professional artists working across a wide range of media and concerns.

In modern social climates, the common workingman continuously feels worthless and undervalued, often invisible to outer society. The struggle to provide a life and a sense of stability for loved ones all too often claims victims into the whirlpool of drink and cards. From my own experience, it feels like we fall into a catacomb of resentment toward ourselves and others. This chaos and desperation are what my work aims to capture. In the literal imagery, I use abstraction to record an expressive moment of angst and frustration that accumulates through the working week. I like to think of my paintings as artistic contradictions: marks rioting with anger and aggression, and overall compositions somehow sitting in an uncomfortable silence, absorbing you while simultaneously rejecting you. Combining var...

2025 - Imprint - Oriel Glasfryn, Caersws, Wales
2024 - Winter Exhibition - Mid Wales Arts Centre, Powys, Wales
​2024 - The Art of Living - The Turner House, Penarth, Wales
2024 - Artists' and Collectors' Fundraising Auction - Oriel Q, Narbeth, Wales
2024 - Mixed Show - Oriel 57, Newport, Wales
2024 - Cowbridge Open Art - The Old Hall, Cowbridge, Wales
​2024 - Summer Exhibition - Gallery Gwyn, Aberaeron, Wales
2024 - Summer Exhibition - Oriel Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw, Gwynedd, Wales
2024 - MIR: Open 24 - G39 Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2024 - Red House Museum Open 24 - Red House Museum, Christchurch, England
2024 - Gallery Gwyn, Aberaeron, Wales
2024 - Mixed Show - Studio Cennen, Llandeilo, Wales
2023 - Winter Exhibition: Christmas Print Market - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Christmas Open - Mid Wales Arts, Powys, Wales
2023 - Trails - The Turner House, Penarth, Wales
2023 - MIR: Open 23 - G39 Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Pick of the Degrees - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Gallery Artists - Victoria Fearn Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Misc. - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - End of Year Exhibition - The College Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
2023 - Spring Open: Resilience - Cardiff MADE, Cardiff, Wales
2023 - Speedball Print Show - G...