BOOK: Lauren Quin-Eyelets of Alkaline, Pace Publishing

Lauren Quin’s “Eyelets of Alkaline”by Pace Publishing, emerges as both a document of artistic transition and a rigorous meditation on the limits of abstraction. Published to accompany her exhibition at Pace in Los Angeles, the catalogue captures a pivotal moment in Quin’s evolving practice—one defined less by expansion than by deliberate restraint.

Quin has long approached painting as a mode of inquiry, and this publication makes clear that her inquiry is far from resolved. Her earlier work, characterized by intense chromatic saturation and gestural immediacy, gives way here to what she terms a “detox of color.” This shift is not merely aesthetic but conceptual. By stripping back the sensory overload of vivid hues, Quin exposes the structural and symbolic underpinnings of her compositions. The result is a body of work that feels simultaneously excavated and suspended—both archaeological in its layering and atmospheric in its ambiguity.

At first glance, the paintings reproduced in the catalogue may appear nearly monochromatic. However, closer inspection reveals a far more complex visual ecology. Fields of black and grey are subtly destabilized by what the text describes as “bleachfields of fugitive color”—traces of pigment that hover between presence and erasure. These spectral hues function less as expressive gestures and more as residues, suggesting that color, once central, now lingers as memory or afterimage. In this way, Quin effectively short-circuits the traditional emotional and symbolic associations of color, inviting viewers to reconsider how meaning is constructed in abstract painting.

Equally significant is Quin’s evolving lexicon of forms—her recurring “symbols,” which are neither fixed nor fully legible. In these new works, they appear digested, partially absorbed into the surrounding tonal fields. This process of dissolution reinforces the sense that Quin is not simply producing images but actively testing the conditions under which images—and by extension, language—can signify.

The catalogue itself is thoughtfully produced, with vivid reproductions and foldout pages that allow the viewer to engage more fully with the scale and detail of Quin’s work. The inclusion of a new text by Ariana Reines adds a complementary literary dimension, though it does not overshadow the visual material. Instead, it echoes the artist’s own preoccupation with the instability of language and symbol.– Efi Michalarou