As the Frieze week kicks off in London, I'm sitting here w an increasing FOMO about such presentations as @nathanielmaryquinn’s 3rd solo show w @alminerech which opens today. However, I'm getting some relief knowing I got an early look at some of the works from Scenes, when I visited the artist's studio in NYC back in June • 8 years after his first major solo show w @pacegallery there, the one that indicated his path to painterly stardom, #NathanielMaryQuinn is back in the British capital with an exhibition that celebrates his love for movies. But not in a superficial "these are my fav movies/actors/scenes" type of way, and instead, expressing his appreciation of how certain movies or scenes can convey emotions, and especially, how they resonate w the viewer. And it's this personal response to such characters as Forest Gump, Homelander, or Barksdale, that the artist is harnessing when creating these portraits. This effort obviously goes far beyond capturing their physical demeanor and into depicting the aspects of their character, but as experienced by the observer, the artist. • Starting from a mental picture, Quinn is working intuitively and "in a moment" strongly focused on capturing the essence of the triggered feedback and transitioning it to the canvas. Having this form, the person, as a central structure, he is allowing for bits and pieces of that vision to come together unrelated on the linen surface, as he figures out a way to put them all in rhythm and balance. Sharing some of the approaches and interests with such greats as Bacon or Ghenie, Quinn is not afraid of allowing his figurative core to strain into expressive abstraction. The symbiosis which happens as the isolated abstract and figurative areas bleed and blend into each other and make the crucial connection he describes as "problem-solving". A problem-solving of creating harmony between seemingly mismatching shapes and qualities as he documents the collective cultural psyche of contemporary society. With that in mind, one could argue, “the self is like a box of chocolate..” • All photos © Nathaniel Mary Quinn - Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech - Photo: Charles Rouses