This August, Saint Cloche presentsWe Can’t Fly, a new solo exhibition by Australian artist Saxon Quinn. Bringing together a new body of paintings, the exhibition reflects on the enduring mythology that exists between parents and their children, gently unravelling childhood ideas of heroism to reveal a deeper story of love, vulnerability and imagination.
The exhibition takes its title from a moment between Quinn’s daughters. Hearing four year old Luna reassure her younger sister, “Don’t worry Nina, Dad’s a superhero,” became the catalyst for this body of work. The words reveal the way young children see their parents: as figures of strength, certainty and protection.
Rather than reinforcing that mythology, Quinn quietly inverts it.
Across the paintings, children emerge as symbols of courage, imagination and unconditional love, while parents, increasingly aware of their own imperfections, are left humbled by the unwavering faith placed in them.
Inspired by moments shared with his daughters, the children that appear throughout the exhibition are not intended as portraits of Luna and Nina, but as universal figures. They represent the instinct, freedom and generosity of childhood itself, encouraging Quinn to paint with greater spontaneity and trust in the creative process. Familiar symbols are reimagined through this lens, from faces marked with vivid lipstick to He-Man transformed into a young girl with Nina’s unmistakable bob haircut. Together, these works gently dismantle inherited ideas of heroism, suggesting that strength is found as much in tenderness, curiosity and imagination as it is in power.
At the heart of the exhibition is a photograph of Quinn with his late father in Bali in 2001, accompanied by a handwritten note that simply reads, “Thank you for all you’ve given me.” Written during the final years of his father’s life, the work quietly completes the circle between parent and child, reminding us that while children begin life believing their parents are superheroes, it is often the parents who come to see their children as the real superheroes.
