william quigley - ABSTRACT WORKS

William Quigley – Artist Biography

June 12, 1985, shortly after graduating from the University of the Arts, William Quigley had his first exhibition with Andy Warhol at the Henry McNeil Gallery in Philadelphia. The show featured five of his abstract works alongside Warhol’s Images of a Child’s World paintings. McNeil, one of the most prominent art collectors in the world, went on to include Quigley in group exhibitions from 1985 to 1990 with influential artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dennis Oppenheim, Alice Aycock, Julian Schnabel, Chrystof Kohlhofer, Pat Steir, David Salle, Richard Artschwager, Willy Heeks, Barbara Kruger, and Keith Haring.

In 1990, Quigley moved to Los Angeles and became affiliated with Manny Silverman Gallery. Through the gallery’s connections in New York, he was introduced in 1991 to legendary artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Goldberg, Ed Ruscha, Ed Moses, Sam Francis, Joe Goode, and his favorite, Willem de Kooning. That same year, he was scheduled to paint with Joan Mitchell at her studio in Giverny, France, but the collaboration was halted due to Mitchell’s illness in 1992.

While participating in Art Basel in 1992, Quigley met Ferran Cano and Ernst Beyeler. Cano later arranged a one-year painting residency for Quigley at the Miró Foundation in 1992–93. After returning to Los Angeles, he opened AB Gallery in two Los Angeles mini-mall locations—on Robertson and Hollywood Boulevards.

In 1999, Quigley returned to New York City, establishing studios in the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea, then in Tribeca and Soho, where he worked until 2012. His work remained deeply influenced by de Kooning and by the artists who shaped his early understanding of American abstraction—many of whom lived and painted on Long Island’s East End. These included Lee Krasner, Sheila Isham, Jane Wilson, Bill King, Robert Blackburn, Laurie Anderson, Alice Neel, Walter Darby Bannard, and art critic Clement Greenberg.

After painting in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and internationally in Italy, Venezuela, Spain, and India, Quigley was drawn to explore the legacy of East Hampton. In 2013, he left his Soho loft and found a former 1970s auto mechanic's garage on the 120-year-old property of Schenck Fuels on Newtown Lane—discovered through Craigslist. Each summer since, he has curated exhibitions in this studio, showcasing artists he believes are doing compelling work.

On April 29, 2020—his birthday and just two days after his father’s passing—Quigley completed Oh Father, a deeply personal piece. His father, also named William, was a devout Irish Catholic who worked his entire life in the automobile parts business and often brought his two young sons on deliveries to local service stations. Quigley found great spiritual meaning in painting inside a former mechanics garage, quoting his father: “See how the Lord works, son.” In his father's honor, Quigley converted the space into AB NY Gallery.

Originally launched in 1994 in Los Angeles, AB Gallery had closed after two years when many of its artists were picked up by larger galleries. The reopening of AB in East Hampton represents both a return and a tribute—an ongoing intersection of memory, place, and creative exploration.

WILL YOU MARRY ME? 30 X 72 INCHES, 2025
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

NO BODY WILL UNDERSTAND THIS ONE 40 X 30 INCHES, 2023
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

I HAVE GREAT IDEAS FOR THIS NEW PAINTING JUST CANT SAY IT IN FRENCH, 74 X 30 INCHES, 2024
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

YOU DO? 80 X 80 INCHES 2022-4
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

OKIE DOKIE, 2022, 80 X 80 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

1998 GAGOSIAN LETTER.....OH DONT WORRY THEY'RE ALL COMING SOON, 2022, 80 X 80 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

PONY UP 44 X 36 INCHES, 2023-25
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

I'M NOT EXACTLY CONVINCED ITS THE RIGHT TIME FOR THAT NOW, 2020, 74 X 74 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, PASTEL ON CANVAS

WILL YOU MARRY ME? 30 X 24 INCHES, 2024
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE THIS ONE IN FRENCH 30 X 24 INCHES, 2024
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

ABSTRACT LIVES MATTER? 30 X 24 INCHES, 2024
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS AND FRAMED

DINWINDIE, 2017, 40 X 30 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, PASTEL ON CANVAS

YORE TELLIN ME, 2022, 48 X 48 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

THIS IS A FIGURE PAINTING , 2020-24, 50 X 50 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY PAINT, CHARCOAL, PENCIL, OIL CRAYON, PASTEL, COLLAGE ON CANVAS

NOT QUITE THERE, 2019, 74 X 62 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CHARCOAL, PENCIL, OIL CRAYON, PASTEL, COLLAGE ON CANVAS

ITS WHEN HE FIRST BROKE OFF FROM THE OTHER FELLAS, 74 x 74 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

JE PRIE POR NE PAS AVOIR TOUT QUE EXPLIQUER EN FRANCAIS, 84 x 60 INCHES 2025
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

I DO LIKE HORSES, 2018, 72 X 73 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

WHERE'S COCO, 2016, 60 X 64 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, OIL CRAYON, PASTEL, ROPE,COLLAGE ON CANVAS

LETS FIGURE THIS ONE OUT, 2025, 40 X 52 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, OIL CRAYON, PASTEL ON CANVAS

DAUGHTER 1, 2022, 16 X 20 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON PASTEL ON CANVAS

BROTHER 1, 2021, 24 X 30 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON PASTEL ON CANVAS

UNTITLED #2, 1990, 32 X 40 INCHES
CHARCOAL, PASTEL ON RIVES BFK PAPER

UNTITLED #3, 1990, 12 X 20 INCHES
CHARCOAL, PASTEL ON RIVES BFK PAPER

UNTITLED GREY #4, 1990, 20 X 24 INCHES
CHARCOAL, PASTEL ON RIVES BFK PAPER

PERISHABLE, 2018 16 X 20 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CHARCOAL, PASTEL ON STRATHMORE PAPER

I DIDNT GET THE WIRE BUT TRUST IT'S ON THE WAY, 2018

PRINT AVAILABLE IN 2 SIZES

24 X 18 $1500 / 36 X 28 $2500

NO WONDER YOU'RE TYRANT, 2022, 24 X 18 INCHES
OIL, ACRYLIC, CRAYON, SPRAY PAINT, PASTEL ON CANVAS

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