Today we’d like to introduce you to Ingrid Westlake.
Hi Ingrid, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I first got acquainted with Quint Gallery as an art collector when I moved to San Diego almost ten years ago. Discovering the incredibly clever works of Kelsey Brookes and Adam Belt was a revelation. Further conversations and my writings about Quint artists on my art blog Reinventingrid led Mark Quint and his team to approach me with an offer I could not refuse: curating exhibitions for Further, a satellite space they were working on back in January 2020.
Further was a collaboration project with SixteenFifty, a Creative Intelligence agency based in La Jolla. With Covid-19, it quickly proved impossible to bring visitors to the working space that SixteenFifty was so my ’20/20 Vision: See Further’ exhibition was unfortunately short-lived. Hard to stop people who are passionate about showing great art, though.
Mark Quint always dreamed of a slow art concept space that would show only ONE artwork at a time. Covid-19 forcing a by-appointment model proved the perfect timing and we opened ONE at 7722 Girard Avenue in La Jolla in July 2020.
As Director, it is a privilege to curate meaningful and colorful art exhibitions to elevate people’s visual diet while offering a unique setting where artists can express their multi-faceted talents. I treasure my daily conversations with collectors and visitors who know each visit to Quint ONE proves to be a visual treat. Many make the decision to take the artwork home so they can live with the art, knowing this to be instrumental to their wellness and happiness. I am truly honored to be the conduit that makes all these art stories possible.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
To be honest, the world is in such turmoil that I feel grateful to live in my art bubble at Quint Gallery while bringing some much-needed visual respite to people in San Diego who know art can help. I actually think after the initial shock of covid-19, Quint Gallery was incredibly quick to seize the opportunity of a “by appointment only” model. Our personalized approach made for the best interactions with our clients and collectors, who rallied in strong support of the gallery since we never stopped bringing top-quality art exhibitions when all museums were closed.
Our slow art concept at ONE provided an art moment and so many people expressed how grateful they felt for this much-needed mindful reset. With so much time spent at home, many people chose to invest in artworks. So yes, there were definitely many silver linings as we seized the opportunity to open a second exhibition space in March 2021 to celebrate Quint Gallery’s 40th anniversary.
Everybody on the team at Quint Gallery is very flexible and hard-working. Now that the public is out and about and looking for more than one artwork (maybe to make up for lost time), we’ve adjusted the project by turning ONE at our 7722 Girard Avenue location into a more traditional gallery space showing one-person and small group shows. No appointments are required but let’s all have our masks at the ready to keep our community safe and thriving. Our team is fully vaccinated and counting on our visitors’ support to do the right thing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your art?
When he established his gallery 40 years ago, Mark Quint chose to champion artists of the Light and Space movement (Robert Irwin, Peter Alexander, Mary Corse, Larry Bell…), a movement now recognized as Quint-essential (pun intended) California Art, if there was only to be one. These iconic artists and painters with Minimalist or Conceptual sensitivity showed early on at Quint Gallery, all turning the unique quality of the California light into an endless source of inspiration. While Quint continues to exhibit works by these seminal Light and Space artists, careful attention should be paid to Adam Belt, Adrien Couvrat, Ruth Pastine and Mara de Luca, the younger generation of Light and Space artists.
Another important aspect of art in California is how it typically embraces color in all its variations. This is a very distinctive trait of most Quint artists. You only have to look at any still-life by Manny Farber, an artist Quint Gallery represented for decades to understand how serious we are about color.
In a more abstract style, artists Kim MacConnel and Kelsey Brookes brighten any wall they grace without ever sacrificing how clever the works are: MacConnel choosing to rewrite art history by focusing on Pattern & Decoration while Kelsey Brookes’ art is rooted in molecular science and brain perception.
The last aspect of the San Diego art scene is linked to the unique geopolitical location of San Diego since we are right on the Mexican border. This geopolitical aspect and San Diego’s cross-border culture is an important visual marker influencing many artists on both sides of the border.
Quint Gallery chose to open its new larger-scale Gallery space in March 2021 by showing an important and significant installation by Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar in which a series of lightboxes and mirrors immerse viewers into the journey of an asylum seeker crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the US. Colorful yet meaningful art, that’s the type of art Quint Gallery has consistently brought to the San Diego art scene for the past 40 years. And there is much more to come.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Never take anything or anybody for granted. And be present: show up, do the work, start a conversation and look intently. Meditation is also a must (I started during a lockdown, I have not missed a day and never felt better).
Contact Info:
- Email: ingrid@quintgallery.com
- Website: www.quintgallery.com
- Instagram: @reinventingrid @quintgallery
- Facebook: @quintgallery
Image Credits:
- Adrien Couvrat paintings – Main photo (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Works by Adrien Couvrat, Manny Farber and Gary Lang (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Robert Irwin (photo credit: Jenny Tran)
- Ruth Pastine paintings (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Thomas Glassford sculpture & Gene Davis painting (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Jean Lowe papier mache installation (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Kelsey Brookes Art Car with Ruth Pastine painting in window (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
- Kelsey Brookes retrospective (photo credit: Mabel Deshommes)
- Manny Farber still life painting (photo credit: Ingrid Westlake)
