Artist in Profile: James Quentin Young (1936-2022)

August 16, 2024

Artist in Profile: James Quentin Young (1936-2022)

One of the first artworks to be added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection was the beautifully minimalist assemblage cross, From His Side, by James Quentin Young, won in a silent auction at a 2009 Christians in the Visual Artists conference. It would be followed in the years since then by other "found object" cruciform pieces by the Minnesota artist. With great sadness, I learned only recently of James' passing in December 2022.  I offer my next two news items as a tribute to this quintessential modern maker of crosses, adding four new assemblage works acquired from the artist's family to the gallery of the updated Young biosketch page in the Sacred Artists section. The first two new works from this assemblage artist of faith present cruciforms in their simplest variations as load bearers. In Stability (2005), Young's largest work in the Collection, a T-bar props up a gilded triangle with a counterbalancing shadow. In the contrasting image, Perplexity (2019), a rusted, flaking doubled cross seems to crumble under the weight of a ziggurat formed out of layered wood. (John Kohan)