UK’s National Portrait Gallery wants Marc Quinn’s Blood…

Self (1991) by Marc Quinn, via Culture Loves Us

I learned from ArtObserved that the National Portrait Gallery desires Marc Quinn‘s blood-- or should I say ‘Self‘. White Cube Gallery has offered the most recent version of Self to the National Portrait Gallery for £350,000 even though the open market value for the piece is quoted at £1.5 million. The National Portrait Gallery has been able to secure £150,000 in order to acquire the ‘blood head’. Thus, the National Portrait Gallery will need to come up with £200,000 in order to have Marc Quinn’s blood where they want it. Time is short-- they only have until December 31st to finalize the deal.

Self (1991) is considered to be Quinn’s signature piece. One could say that it launched his rise into the upper levels of the art world. For those who don’t know, Self is a frozen sculpture of the artist's head made from 9.5-- though some sources state 10-- pints of his own blood. Quinn secured the raw material-- in this case his own blood-- from his body over a period of 5 months. The original Self was bought by Charles Saatchi in 1991 for a reputed £13,000.

I realize that I’ve been rather harsh to Marc Quinn lately-- ok, maybe really harsh , but his Self is a piece that I actually admire. In my opinion, Self has a universal appeal that a golden statue of a fading cover girl will never have.

Links of Interest:

National Portrait Gallery criticised over purchase of Marc Quinn’s Blood Head [TimesUK]

National Portrait Gallery Raises Money for Self-Portrait Made From Frozen Blood [ArtInfo]

Museum needs £200,000 for Marc Quinn’s blood portrait [The Art Newspaper]

Take Care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com

Marc Quinn's Golden Fetish

Photo: © Getty Images

Marc Quinn’s golden sculpture of Kate Moss has finally been made public at the British Museum as part of its Statuefilia exhibition. As expected, Quinn’s statue of Moss is in a similar pose as his bronze sculpture of the British model titled Sphinx. Apparently the golden version of Kate Moss was to be titled Siren, but has been renamed Aphrodite. According to the museum the piece is the largest gold sculpture to be made since the days of ancient Egypt. Quinn created the sculpture with over two millions dollars worth of gold. It has been suggested that the piece will earn six times that once sold.

As I’ve mentioned before… I’m not exactly impressed with art that meshes with celebrity. Marc Quinn and Daniel Edwards take top prize for that as far as I’m concerned. Will Damien Hirst be able to top Quinn's golden Moss? Perhaps Andres Serrano will sculpt Kate Moss or another celebrity in his own little way? That might actually be interesting.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

Marc Quinn and his Golden Idol

Detail of "Siren"-- British Museum/PA Wire

If you want to make headlines with your art you need only knock on the door of celebrity-- or so it seems. We have seen this time and time again in recent years. Since I’ve been cynical of Daniel Edwards work involving celebrities in the past I feel that I must stick to my guns and cast an eye at Marc Quinn’s most recent work. Quinn has created a sculpture of British supermodel Kate Moss-- again.

This is not the first time that Marc Quinn has used Kate Moss as his muse. In 2006, he unveiled his Sphinx, a painted bronze statue of Moss that caused some controversy due to the provocative yoga pose of the statue. The end result then was the same as now-- headlines for the artist. Quinn’s new sculpture of Kate Moss, titled Siren, is a 110-pound statue worth over $2 million in solid gold. Detailed images of the statue have yet to be made public. However, some sources have suggested that the statue of Moss involves the same edgy pose as Sphinx-- why break from a successful formula, right?

When asked about Siren, Quinn stated, "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment, but even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image.". Maybe Kate Moss is his ideal of beauty? She certainly is not mine. Maybe the next thing to do is for certain aspects of the art world to go beyond bling and celebrity. Britney Spears pregnant on all fours as imagined by Daniel Edwards, a diamond skull thanks to Damien Hirst, and now Kate Moss made out of gold by Marc Quinn! I don’t think I can handle much more of this meshing of celebrity and bling. What say you?

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com