Quincy Ellis’ Solo Exhibition in Chelsea Explores The Many Shades of Skin Tones

What color is nude anyway? It’s a question Quincy Ellis of Facture Studio, based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, asked with “Tone,” his solo summer exhibition at Tuleste Factory, a Chelsea gallery founded by sisters Satu and Celeste Greenberg. On one level, the circular pieces are color studies, with gently blurred gradients of saturation and hue. But on a deeper level, they explore the idea that skin tones, like colors themselves, are many, varied, and multiple. Indeed, all the shades in the Tone Halo series are taken from Ellis’s own skin, showing the breadth and variety that can be present on a single body. His eight wall objects are 6 feet in diameter and made from aluminum and wood surfaced with resin polished to a smooth-as-glass finish.