THE MULTIFACETED MARC QUINN BY SHALINI PASSI
Marc Quinn is a name synonymous with the British contemporary artscape. The artist investigates and challenges some of the most fundamental canons of artmaking and art viewing, setting a tone apart. Based out of London, he works across various artistic mediums ranging from stainless steel, human DNA to bread and blood, each of its own metaphoric significance. Visiting his studio and meeting him helped me gain perhaps a better insight into his work and psyche, which is nothing short of sheer brilliance.
Quinn’s early influences come from his father’s background as a physicist in France, being surrounded by numerous scientific devices and instruments. Eventually Quinn pursued Art History at the University of Cambridge which corroborates historical references in many of his artworks.
Quinn is often associated with the radical group Young British Artists of the 1990’s who were popularly known for questioning the way of making and experiencing art. This group included renowned artists like Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Cornelia Parker, Rachel Whiteread and Sarah Lucas.
He primarily gained popularity for his sculpture Self sculpted out of his own blood, casted and frozen. Self was first exhibited in 1991 and is an ongoing work where he presents his renewed portrait casted in his blood every five years. Each Self portrait is shielded with glass and the freezing temperatures are maintained with the help of freezing cabinets.
Quinn’s multidisciplinary work navigates towards understanding human identity in today’s world and also raising awareness about grave social and environmental issues. He explores science, history, popular culture, human conditioning through mediums like painting, sculpture and installation. Often, the viewer or the public form an integral aspect of his work. One such work is Our Blood, a public artwork made with the blood of refugees, non-refugees, including renowned celebrities. Our Blood intends to shed a light on the refugee crisis and is also a fundraiser helping refugees all across the globe. The sculpture comprises two cubes of human blood, each containing blood donation by over five thousand refugees and over five thousand non-refugees respectively. Both the cubes remain anonymous, not revealing the blood donation group.
Another work exemplary of Quinn’s multi-disciplinary approach, inculcating science in his works is portrait of Sir John Sulston. The artwork is his interpretation of a portrait of a British Biologist who was given a Nobel Laureate for his work in human genome sequencing. The portrait was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and incorporates real DNA of Sir John in a plate of bacterial colonies, contained in agar jelly and framed with stainless steel. This collaborative portrait of Sir John in turn inspired Quinn to make a few more DNA portraits.
At Quinn’s studio, I witnessed a primary cast of his infamous sculpture Self Conscious Gene. Self Conscious Gene is a ginormous bronze casted sculpture of late Rick Genest, standing about 11 feet 6 inches tall, at the Science Museum in London. Rick Genest, also widely known as zombie boy , began tattooing his entire body with his skeleton, head to toe after a period of illness. With this sculpture Quinn explores the use of technology and modern medicine as a means to project individuality and identity. The tattoos on Genest’s body are engraved on the sculpture alike, making it a detailed map of human anatomy.
Another prominent work by Quinn is a marble sculpture in Trafalgar Square, commissioned for the inception of Four Plinth Sculptures. The monumental sized sculpture depicts a portrait of Alison Lapper during her pregnancy, 2005. Alison is a respectably renowned artist physically challenged, being born with shortened legs and no arms. According to Quinn, her pregnancy marks the hopeful future, full of possibilities for humanity.
One of the most popular series, exploring art and science by the artist, is Iris paintings. This series is a commentary on today’s age where all our perspective of the world is a result of the visual data we consume. Our visual perspective dominates our sense of reality. Quinn paints hyper-realistic and microscopic details of an iris, each painting composed of its own narrative. The Iris painting are a form of universal portraits, landscapes, a celebration of individuality
Marc Quinn is a multifaceted artist traversing through various mediums, disciplines and genres, drawing relevance from various fields seamlessly. His work transcends beyond art, emphasizing on his sense of community, raising social awareness and fundraising for various social issues close to him. Commendably making him one of the most celebrated artists of his generation.
Text by Shalini Passi
Image Courtesy: Marc Quinn Studios and Shalini Passi
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