Kaleigh Quinnan Verified listing

Interested in creating narratives that walk the line between horror and humor, Quinnan invents images that question the way media visually labels objects as good or evil. With each work she continues to develop the visual language that defines this intersection, questioning what is an object and why.

Within her painting practice, she isolates the figure with a single narrative to emphasize absurdity and imitate advertising media. In creating this parallel, this work explores the relationship between bodies and the roles assigned to them from observers based on learned visual cues. A central character that emerges in her paintings is a bimbo-esque depiction of an often yellow-haired, pastel-colored figure who is often featured in uncomfortable, hyper-sexualized and unrealistic positions. Drawn from the artists own experiences or observances, these semi-autobiographical works cast physical limitations and traditional proportions aside as a protest against the dehumanization that women and gender non-conforming people often face. Quinnan's visual language incorporates humor into the work to acknowledge the irony of an art object rejecting objectification. The scale, sharp lines and bold color contrast invites viewers into the plot of each painting and prompts onlookers to digest the action taking place amid the swollen extremities and hedonic details of the figure.

Her drawings hope to provoke similar conversations and provide different perspectives on how bodies can exist in a confusing space. Monochrome colored pencil works feature intimate snapshots that expand the universe that the work imagines. The scenes in these drawings are more passive, reminiscent of what would be seen when scrolling through a social feed within an absurdist universe.

Across mediums, the work materializes as a suite of bold figures that playfully reject their status as an object and embrace agency over their own distressing narrative by challenging different perspectives on what it means to be consumed.

Quinnan’s work explores representations of women in pop culture and the western art canon, blending motifs pulled from cult cinema, cartoons, fashion, advertising and influencer marketing. Dwelling on dramatized tropes of feminine bodies, the artist creates absurdist narratives with abstract forms as an avenue to criticize sexualized consumerism, class politics, and gendered aesthetics.

The artist invents images that question the disturbing sentience of living objects (Annabelle) as well as the friendlier dolls who have been made alive (Barbie). With each work she develops the visual language that defines this intersection. Her influences include but are not limited to Grace Weaver, Henri Matisse, Peter Saul, Hannah Epstein, Sassetta, Tracey Moffatt, Ilana Savdie and The Chicago Imagists. Quinnan also looks towards Dada and the Avant-Garde movements in Paris when seeking to define what an art object is and what it can be.

Quinnan's work is on display in The Pennsylvania State Capital Building as a selected artist of House Representative Melissa Shusterman. Her work has previously been exhibited with Fishbowl Gallery (2024), The Center for Emerging Visual Artists (2024), Lather Salon (2024), and Downtown 500 (2024). In 2025, her work will be featured in Create! Magazine and Studio Visit Book Volume 5. She holds a B.F.A. in Drawing & Painting as well as a B.S. in French and Francophone studies with a business concentration as well as minors in Political Science and Global and International Studies (2021). Her honors thesis work, "The Commoditization of The Female Body as a Luxury Good: The Result of French Culture at The Intersection of Fine Art and Popular Culture Media" was supervised by Brian Alfred and advised by J.-Marc Authier and Steven D. Rubin. Her international thesis work with The Institute for Field Education in Paris, "Un Regard Sur Le Tourisme Parisien À Travers La Littérature De Voyage Dans Un Monde Moderne," was completed with MKRS. Paris.