Portraits
In his series "Portraits", Quintana lays paper gilded in gold or silver leaf beneath a person – typically another artist – while they work. The floor becomes the apparatus of the image’s production, collecting oxidation, footprints, dripped paint, sweat, and dirt that all combine to create a trace of the subject. By combining delicate gilding with ordinary elements such as dirt and sweat, the artist demonstrates his interest in materials and those of the artists who “sit” for him. Quintana does not seal his works so they slowly evolve over time, revealing environmental fluctuations, fingerprints, and impurities in the metal leaf. The Portraits hint at devotional relics and their gradual changes record the history of their display.
–Jennie Lamensdorf, curator, The Francis J. Greenburger Collection