Saint Cloche is proud to present No Mirror, No Likey, the highly anticipated new solo exhibition by internationally exhibited artist Saxon Quinn. Known for his layered, gritty and deeply personal aesthetic, Quinn’s latest body of work offers an incisive yet playful critique of vanity, identity and modern masculinity, filtered through the distorted mirror of memory, nostalgia and self-image.
Raised by Australian artist Dianne Coulter in country Victoria and later immersed in fashion, design and tech in New York City, Quinn has cultivated a distinct visual language that communicates through the subliminal signs and signals of global culture. His work spans continents and resists being fixed in place, with exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Hong Kong, Seoul, Madrid and Copenhagen.
No Mirror, No Likey takes its title from a lyric by UK musician Baby Dave, whose punk-inflected satire struck a chord with Quinn while he was working in his Murwillumbah studio. Across these canvases, Quinn channels the spirit of CoBrA artists, whose raw, childlike energy challenged post-war conceptualism. These works are layered with ghostly traces of graphite and paint, torn paper, glued pages from childhood sketchbooks, oil sticks, inks and studio dirt.
In this new series, grotesquely muscular bodies and maniacal expressions become vessels for raw reflection on past selves. Quinn examines the insecurities that once defined his relationship with mirrors, scanning his reflection for signs of progress, strength or worth. These exaggerated physiques speak to unattainable ideals and the desire to both stand out and disappear.
“Every time I would leave the house I would look at myself in every mirror as I left. No mirror was safe,” Quinn reflects. “I was hoping to be loved and liked through appearance only to realise that in many cases, it was a repellent.”
Yet No Mirror, No Likey is not a confession but a release. Over the past year, Quinn’s process has become more direct, autobiographical and embodied. He begins with raw canvas used as a drop cloth, catching drips, footprints and residue from works in progress. Once marked with traces of the studio, the canvas is cut, mounted and transformed into new works. These surfaces carry the memory of their making, linking past and present through intuitive layering and spontaneous mark-making.
