An Interview with Kate McQuillen
Based in New York, Kate McQuillen is an artist we can’t quite believe we hadn’t crossed paths with earlier. The print world is small enough that we have numerous contacts in common but we’re really thrilled to be sharing her work now. There is a kind of alchemy to Kate’s process. In much the same way that our previous feature on Carla Scott Fullerton showcased an artist who uses the equipment of printmaking to serve a sculpture practice, it feels as if Kate uses the physical acts of printmaking - specifically screenprinting - to serve a painting practice.
Sigmund Fried (Double Dream) Acrylic on panel, 30” x 36”, 2019
When did you first start printing?
I found out about printmaking from my roommate at MassArt in Boston. I was in the general first-year program, and wasn’t really aware of it as a medium. My roommate was a printmaking major and had just finished working on the Master Print series with Kiki Smith. We were hanging out in her bedroom one night, and I asked her for advice on what to major in. Then she pulled these incredible Kiki Smith artist proofs out from under her bed and suggested I try printmaking. My mind was blown and the next day I went to the department and signed up for a class.
Following grad school I got a job as a head screenprinter at a gig poster shop in Chicago, making posters for bands. That’s when I felt like I started printing for real; and it was how I finally learned about color. There was lots of psychedelia in those jobs terms of the colors. Most of my day was spent matching Pantones, and mixing ink for overlays that would create tons of intense hues. The particular skill carried over into my new work quite a bit.
Dream Scream. Acrylic on panel, 14″ x 11″, 2019.
Eye Beams. Acrylic on panel, 7″ x 5″, 2019.
Where do you typically make your work? Home studio? Shared space?
I live in Brooklyn and I have a really unique and weird situation where I have a garage studio. It’s on the first floor of my building, and my apartment is right behind it. In the studio I have one big table and a little sink, which allows me to get everything done with my technique. I also have a little backyard with a water hookup, so in the warm months I can wash my screens out back there. The only downside of the garage studio is the slack of natural light, and no ventilation. Sometimes in the summer if it gets unbearably hot, I’ll open the garage door… but once when I did that, I had a pigeon wander in. Typical NYC.
Roadrunner. Acrylic on panel, 36″ x 40,” 2019.
How do you see your print background informing your more expanded practice?
Probably the biggest thing is the way that printmaking tools--in my case squeegees-- allow you to disguise your hand. I once heard Christopher Wool discuss how painters have always "used strategies to distance themselves from their virtuosity”, and this is something I can totally relate to. I like the mediation of the squeegee, and the way that it flattens, unifies, and simplifies everything onto a single picture plane. And it removes me somewhat as the creator of the image, which feels like a good thing.
Also, the colors of process printing--cyan, magenta, and yellow--are my palette, with some slight variations: hansa yellow, quinacridone red, and ultramarine blue.
Seven Forevers. Acrylic on panel, 48″ x 36″, 2020
Wave Amnesia. Acrylic on panel, 24″ x 20″, 2020
Who would you love to collaborate with?
I’ve always wanted to collaborate with a musician. I think about visual spectrums like I think about sonic ranges. I like those fuzzy edges where things shift from one to the other, and are hard to identify. I think of certain colors in that way-- grays and browns and purples remind me of feedback, noise, and the musical texture of multiple instruments at once. So for a collaborative dream, I would say Cate LeBon. Her music has aspects of those things I just mentioned, but mixed with a kind of pop sensibility and nonsense… all things that I’ve been getting interested in.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m buckled down here during the coronavirus getting ready for a studio visit with a gallery I’ve been working with here in NYC. My current images are starting to employ some broken-down patterning, and these distorted water marks in which the squeegee slides along and does not quite make contact with the surface, with the exception of leaving a slight touch of the screen texture.
Further Reading about Kate and her recent work:
The Brooklyn Rail
Sound and Vision podcast
Exhibition documentation
Sleep Dial, 2019, 20″ x 24″ x 1.5,” acrylic on panel
Studio Shot with furry assistant, Kasterlee, April 2020
Each feature post in the Women in Expanded Print series is accompanied by a donation to the social justice cause of each artist’s choosing in their name. Kate’s chosen organization was Higher Heights for America.