Ben Quilty

Trinkets

In this formidable new body of work, Quilty focuses almost exclusively on the human figure – especially heads, eyes and mouths – as he wrestles into existence urgently expressive, even grotesque, embodiments of the way many of us are feeling right now, the artist included.

“The older I grow, the more awkward I feel about being part of the human condition,” Quilty says. “The world is in turmoil. Nothing seems straightforward anymore. We lead these complex lives overlaid with solastalgia, a massive and realistic fear of what’s happening to the planet. It makes for an odd existence.”

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