Year: 2009
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 184.6 x 122.3 cm (72 5/8 x 48 1/8 in.)
Acquired from Sotheby’s, 2023
This work was presented at the same time as Quinn’s first solo exhibition of the “Iris” series (Mary Boone Gallery, NY). This round motif connecting the celestial body and the human body can be said as one of the most important works that led to the “Anthropocene” series with the same feature. The “Iris” series depicts the human iris on a huge circular canvas, but the iris which is only 10mm in diameter on the scale of the human body is enlarged to about 2000mm in Quinn’s paintings. When the scale changes drastically, many things can be seen differently. Quinn connects the iris, a tiny part of the body, with an extremely large scale of the universe. As the title suggests, “Iris” refers to the Greek goddess of the rainbow and etymologically means rainbow. This work is themed on the sky over the Bayon Temple which forms part of Angkor. It is a photorealistic depiction of a magnificent double sunburst that spreads from the centered dazzling sun. Displayed contrarily to “Iris”, this work expresses the contrasting relationship of scale and yin-yang between the human iris and pupil at its center that shows a dark hole, in contrast to the rare natural phenomenon caused by sunlight and atmosphere with the overwhelming light of the star at its center. It also suggests the vastness of Quinn’s imaginative realm.
