Lauren Quin: Eyelets of Alkaline at Pace Gallery, Los Angeles

Pace Gallery is scheduled to present Eyelets of Alkaline, an exhibition of new paintings by the Los-Angeles based artist Lauren Quin. This presentation constitutes Quin’s first solo exhibition with the gallery since joining its roster in 2025 and signifies a fundamental shift in her aesthetic approach. The body of work on view reflects a deliberate departure from the intense chromatic saturation that characterized her previous output, favoring instead a rigorous process the artist describes as a “detox of color.”

The paintings in this exhibition were produced over an eighteen-month period and represent a technical and conceptual rupture from Quin’s 2024 exhibition in New York. While the works may initially appear monochromatic, they are composed of dense tonal fields of black and grey, punctuated by “bleachfields” of fugitive color. These residual hues function as atmospheric echoes, worked into the surface to create a tension between presence and absence. By reducing her palette, Quin seeks to neutralize the emotional and referential associations typically commanded by color, focusing instead on the structural and temporal qualities of the medium.

Quin’s compositional method involves a complex system of “superstitious abstraction,” a term she uses to describe a process guided by synchronicity and formal invention. Each painting begins with an underpainting of “tunnels of light,” which establishes a spatial foundation of pattern and shape. This ground is subsequently obscured, scraped back, and reworked, leaving visible pentimenti that document the artist’s decision-making process. The resulting surfaces are assemblages of motifs and symbols—a recurring lexicon within Quin’s practice—that are fragmented and then sutured back together.

The spatial logic of these works is characterized by a centrifugal and entropic quality. Tubular forms appear to rupture, extending beyond the picture plane and maintaining a state of productive instability. While the human figure is not explicitly depicted, it is evoked through a series of interwoven volumes and interiors. Quin has stated that her interest in the body pertains more to minute fragments of sensation—such as the glint of an eye—rather than a cohesive anatomical representation. These works function as soundings of the minute, translating ephemeral experiences into the permanent, if obscured, language of abstraction.

Lauren Quin (b. 1992, Los Angeles) earned her MFA from the Yale School of Art and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is held in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue from Pace Publishing featuring a new text by the poet and essayist Ariana Reines.

Exhibition Details