Friday, January 28, 2011

Marc Quinn


Marc Quinn became apart of the YBA in the early 90s, and is where he became noticed as a contemporary artist.  His earlier work was rooted in history and art history, with a use of contemporary and traditional material.  During this time he sculpted portraits of people such as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI out of uncooked bread.  He then baked the bread, letting the forms distort, and then ultimately cast them in bronze.  Quinn also examines transformation process, both physiological and emotional.  He uses his own body to express this content, transcending the accidental nature of his own being.  One example of this is Self, in which he sculpted a self-portrait and then cast it in 5 liters of his own blood.  Incarnate is of the same nature, except he makes blood sausage (with his own blood), and lays it on a bed of salt.  These pieces also address issues of life and death, specifically a cyclical pattern that ultimately leads to a new life.  Following these works, Quinn focused on the externalization and depiction of internal, spiritual and distressing emotional processes; his enduring addiction to alcohol is derivative to this broad idea.  Emotional Detox (1995) is one example of this, along with The Seven Deadly Sins (1995) and Fear of Fear (1994-95). 
            Quinn’s use of material is never accidental; he seems to want to make his viewers aware of the way in which certain materials in our culture acquire meaning.  For example, the use of lead in his work carries much symbolism; the goal to turn lead into gold is a metaphor for not only the purification of material, but of the human spirit as well.  Emotional Detox relates to this idea as well, touching on the complex and, at times, painful relationship between body and mind.  Quinn’s well known body of work using disabled men and women as subject matter is another way he expresses the problematic relationship between body and mind.  By sculpting amputees and quadra/parapalegics in a very traditional material and style, he immortalizes his subjects, allowing the public to perhaps assess the relationship of their body and mind.


Mengham, Rod.  Marc Quinn: Recent Sculpture. Nai Publishers, 2006.
Collins, Judith.  Sculpture Today.  Phaidon, 2007.
www.marcquinn.com




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