Spanish contemporary artist Maru Quinonero creates colourful minimalistic works of art inspired by her experiences with synaesthesia.
Read MoreMaru Quinonero was born in 1979 in Murcia, Spain. She studied art history at Murcia University, graduating in 2001. This course provided her with a strong foundation in modern art movements, including Minimalism, Colour Field painting, and the School of Paris, which the artist has since drawn from for her own creative practice.
She graduated in 2006 with an MA in Fashion Communication from Carlos III University in Madrid, and then worked for Condé Nast Group in marketing.
Quinonero decided to commit herself full-time to being an artist in 2015, first experimenting with collage and illustration before settling on abstraction in 2017. As the artist never formally studied Fine Art, she identifies the development of her practice as being rooted in 'experimentation.'
She continues to live and work in the Spanish capital.
Maru Quinonero's oeuvre revolves around an exploration of colour and shape through the lens of abstraction. The series Color and Vacuum epitomises her practice and has been ongoing since 2017. In this series, she creates minimalist drawings featuring organic forms of saturated hues against white backgrounds. The artist describes this approach as 'a conversation between colour and emptiness.'
Her work is simplistic but arresting. The vibrant colours and restrained nature of her canvases draw the viewer in, as one meditates on the exploration of colour theory presented by the artist. Although appearing as uniform shapes from afar, a closer inspection reveals the artist's hand, having meticulously filled the empty space with colour. These drawings work as studies of both colour and space, especially the negative space between the vibrant forms. She is particularly interested in exploring the colour blue in her drawings.
Color and Vacuum is a highly personal and emotive series for the artist; as she taps into her experience living with synaesthesia, each colour on the paper is linked to a particular mood. Quinonero uses these works as a vehicle to explore her synaesthesia, and therefore her emotions. The creative process, using pastel and pencil on paper, thus carries a therapeutic element for the artist as well.
One of Quinonero's earlier significant series is Mi chica del turbante, or, My girl with a turban, starting in 2015. These mixed media works combine a minimalist contour drawing of a woman's bust, with the top part of her head obscured by a fabric turban sewn into the canvas. The turban adds a three-dimensional element, reminiscent of a relief. She returned to the project in 2020, creating six new artworks to be sold to benefit the Spanish Association Against Cancer.
Maru Quinonero completed a residency at Alzueta Gallery in June 2022.
Maru Quinonero has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions include: Momento, Alzueta Gallery Turo, Barcelona (2022); The Need, Voltz Clarke Gallery, New York (2022); Lo azul, Alvaro Alcazar Gallery, Madrid (2020); and Color and Vacuum, EG Gallery, Madrid (2019).
Group exhibitions include: Family Album, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid (2022); They have wood, Alvaro Alcazar Gallery, Madrid (2021); and Wall BDC, Galerie-Espace Le Marais, Paris (2014).
Maru Quinonero's website can be found here.
Articles on Maru Quinonero have been published in various publications, including COOLT, La Verdad, and Vogue.
Rachel Kubrick | Ocula | 2022
