Meet Quinn Tincher
Quinn Tincher giving a talk at our School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe 5-year anniversary party
Quinn Tincher became part of our School of Machines family in 2019. At the time, he was a founder of the eclectic and world-renowned immersive art collect, Meow Wolf. As part of this work, he was making videos on how to work with materials to help give artists tools to start creating their own unique objects from scratch. The generosity of his personality really shown through the screen and we were super excited to have him join us for our 5-anniversary celebration and beyond.
Dear Quinn, you are one of my favourite humans. You are kind and generous, creative, knowledgable in practical matters such as— you know all the tools and materials to make things and how to use them!— but also, as a human, you have so much care inside of you. How did you become this person? What was the beginning of your journey in life and as an artist like?
How did I become this person? Well, that's a pretty huge question and while I can't answer it in total I can point the way to some trail markers that got me to where I am now. I grew up poor in an affluent art community in New Mexico. My dad was a gallery photographer one of the few in town so if you had a painting that needed to be photographed he was the guy. I spent my young life in the back rooms of galleries or surrounded by the fumes of Rich oil paint filling our single wide trailer (my dad didn't have a studio and unbeknownst to his clients their work was shot in our home), this exposure to fine art was the first step, i fell in love with the very concept of being an artist.
My hunger for art images, art concepts, and the stories of famous artists became insatiable. I spent as much time as possible in bookstores and libraries sitting at volumes of incredible artworks trying my best to copy them in pencil. And this was also the very beginning of the internet, I was able to start reaching out and seeing the incredible graffiti works coming out of big cities and the art created by people outside of the gallery world. The very early works of Shepherd Ferry and the Andre the Giant has a posse campaign turned me on to street art. This was not just an important moment in who I would become as an artist but a crucial moment into who I would become as a person. Along with street art came independent art collectives, art activism, and finally seeing that being an artist was not just a thing you did but a thing you are. A thing I am.
What is something you that you have struggled with that perhaps all artists struggle with? Have you any insights to share, so that others might struggle less?
I am also neurodiverse. This manifests in several ways but one of them is that I can be painfully shy. We all need the world to see us, we all crave the call and response that tells us not only are we alive but our life has meaning and a connection to the greater movement of the universe. The first time I ever showed a painting I felt seen, and in a loud and chaotic world I found a place where I can have my own quiet moment. A place to share the depth and complexity that I feel. This first show was in a local coffee shop, this led me to the realization that many businesses in town did not show art. I began collecting artists and approaching local businesses to put up shows with a fair amount of success, this led to the forming of a sort of ragtag art community.
Through not just creating art but being an artist, living artistically, and bending the rules as much as I could, I found a path where i could be myself, do my favorite thing and inspire others all at the same time! Yes, this is most often a harder path, but the rewards go so far beyond money and acknowledgement, I have experienced the pull of creation, I have muses writhing and swirling in the fluid soul I have become. This is my preferred evolution. I do not sculpt my reality to fit in any box, I expect it to expand and explode into the universe as far as it can go.
The other half of struggle is success, but the road is rocky, hold on tight, don't let go and know that YOU are your most attentive audience, and your worst critic, (and if you can love yourself), your biggest fan. Don't avoid struggle, but don't let it weigh you down either. The best advice I have is be solidly yourself, love who you are, be the strong rock getting polished by a steady steam of struggle because in time you will shine. The water will never be the same, but you will always be you.
A lot of people, myself including, are super interested in getting more into working with materials and fabrication. What advice would you give to us hungry but as of yet skill-lacking humans?
I love that "hungry but as of yet skill lacking". I kind of want that printed on my gravestone. In my experience the best way of learning a skill is attempting it in a sandbox. What I mean by this, what I mean by a sandbox is a place where if you fall there will be a soft landing, a mode of movement that is focused on play, and an abandon that comes with childlike imagination. I have set out to earn many skills and been surprised that along the way prerequisite skills had been filed away through other unique experiences. I've brought everything from Lego sets to mopping techniques into my work. It is so important for me to remember that the origin of needed information is often unexpected.
And to get more technical in answering the question I would look at play as a mode of exploration, to facilitate this I often rely on models, maquettes, and miniatures. There are many tips and tricks along the way that can make this process less costly and more graceful but the real trick is just starting. You can make your own clay if you need you can cut cardboard stencils you can buy the cheapest available paint. It is your intention that makes the stuff in our world transform into art. It is your intention that makes a moment meaningful for the observer. The artist way can look like a ton of sacrifice. Materials and time are treasure, waste should be avoided, but remember that you are building your own mind palace. The work is hard, the cost is high but the experience, the learning is indelibly your own.
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To learn more about Quinn’s work, visit his website.
For more information and to apply for Interactive Berlin, a 4-week full-time program taking place this July in Berlin, at School of Machines in Berlin, click here.