Emily Blair Quinn’s realistic oil portraits depict glistening, ghostly and fractured female figurines in enigmatic emotional states that range from fiery passion to muted panic. The scale of the painting corresponds with the size of the figure’s emotion, so when a figure experiences empowerment, freedom, or ecstasy, she becomes larger than life. However, when she feels powerless, fearful, or sad, she is confined to a small canvas. Quinn's process begins with a treasure hunt for figurines that she feels look “haunted, sad, pensive, sexual, or otherwise easy to anthropomorphize.” Then she arranges them in theatrically lit scenes and often transforms them through paint, wax and resin before photographing them as models for her paintings.

Emily Blair Quinn was born in 1990 in Decatur, AL, and lives in Kansas City, MO. She received her BFA from Auburn University, Auburn, AL (2013) and her MFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (2016).

Quinn has mounted solo exhibitions at MARQUEE PROJECTS in Bellport, NY (2021); The Hallway Gallery in Saxapahaw, NC (2019); and Naropa University Galleries in Boulder, CO (2017).

She has also been included in group exhibitions at MARQUEE PROJECTS, Bellport, NY (2022); High Noon Gallery, New York City, NY (2022); the San Bernadino County Museum, Redlands, CA (2021); the Kansas City Artist Coalition (2021); and others.

Her work has been published in New American Paintings, Create! Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, and Voyage KC Magazine. Quinn was also selected to attend residencies at ChaNorth in Pine Plains, NY (2022); Joshua Tree Highlands in Joshua Tree, CA (2018); and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT(2018).