only you / complete me

McQuain’s jubilant paintings feature people and animals in symbolic arrangements that hint at mysteries of the imagination. His work in acrylics, mixed media and watercolor start with abstract color washes and random patterns, over which he teases out shapes in the manner of a daydreaming child imagining animals in the clouds. Recent works are inspired by his ADHD, which he likens to trying to focus on three radio broadcasts at once. McQuain harnesses his neurodivergence as a source of inspiration, channeling overlapping stimuli into innovative ideas as unusual connectomes wire together inside his head. He often paints “in reverse” — the abstract initial layers of his paintings emerge in the foreground as he pushes the negative space around his subjects toward the back, teasing new imagery and order from the chaos of his initial start. This approach stems in large part from McQuain’s love of literature and work as an English professor and poet. He also draws on the folk art of his native West Virginia, as well as his outsider status as a gay man living with a genetic demyelination disease (HNPP). This neuropathy affects his hands, sometimes causing his paintbrush to fly from his fingers and mar his canvas. He calls such marks “happy accidents” and often incorporates them into his patterns and shapes.