MARC QUINN (BRITISH B. 1964)
Self (Blue)
2006
signed, inscribed and dated Marc Quinn 2007 / Unique (on the reverse)
collage and acrylic on board
board: 26 x 19.5 cm
frame: and 50.5 x 44 cm
ARR
Note: This lot is being sold outside of the margin scheme, so VAT is payable on the full hammer price.

Marc Quinn is a leading British contemporary artist. Together with fellow artists Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, he was one of the trailblazers of the Young British Artists movement in the 1990s, redefining the creation and experience of contemporary art.

He first came to prominence in the early 1990s, when he and several peers redefined what it was to make and experience contemporary art. Following the success of his first solo exhibition in 1988 at the Jay Joplin/Otis Gallery he was selected for the Sydney Biennale in 1992 and went on to show at the Saatchi Gallery (1993), ‘Time Machine’ at The British Museum (1994), ‘Thinking Print’ at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1996) and ‘Sensation’ at the Royal Academy (1997).

Quinn’s art speaks to the life of the everyday person. He breaks down the relationships one has with what and whom surround them. Whether it is humanity’s relationship with nature, human desire, what beauty means or how identity can be defined, he represents what it means to be a person in today’s world.

Quinn gravitates towards unconventional materials. His ‘Self’ (1991), a cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood kept at sub-zero temperatures. This is arguably the purest form of self-portrait, made both by and of the artist. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance.

He produces a new edition every five years; the change in appearance provides an interesting study in decay and comments on humanity’s dependence on modern infrastructure, as the sculpture’s continued existence relies on a constant flow of electricity. The artwork launched him to fame when it first appeared and has become one of the most enduring images of the YBA movement.