Marc Quinn (British, b.1964) is a sculptor associated with the Young British Artists and best known for his self-portraits made from unconventional materials, such as blood, marble, lead, and glass. After working as an assistant to sculptor Barry Flanagan and studying history and art history at Robinson College, Cambridge University, Quinn began exhibiting at the White Cube gallery. In 1993, his work was part of the group exhibition The Saatchi Collection: Young British Artists II, organized by patron Charles Saatchi. For his series Self, begun in 1991 and re-made every five years, Quinn makes casts of his head using his own blood, documenting his physical transformation and questioning the notion of portraiture as representation of an inner self. Quinn’s other self-portraits include The Origin of the Species (1993), a cast of his head made of coconut milk, and Shit Head (1997), a cast of his head made from his own excrement. For his Complete Marbles series (1999–2001), Quinn made life-size portraits of people born without limbs, sculpted these works in Carrara marble, and exhibited them alongside plaster casts of Classical sculptures that had lost limbs due to age. One of Quinn’s most controversial works, Alison Lapper Pregnant (2000), which was part of the 2004 Fourth Plinth program in Trafalgar Square in London, is a larger-than-life-size portrait of a pregnant woman born with shortened legs and no arms. Quinn’s recent series of Flower Paintings, started in 2007, depicts tropical flowers and skulls in vibrant colors, referencing traditional memento mori still-lifes, and noting that these exotic plants are readily available in the present day. Quinn has exhibited his work at many important venues, including the Venice Biennale in 2003, the Tate Gallery in London, the Fondazione Prada in Milan, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. He currently lives and works in London.
