Marc Quinn

'Planet' by Marc Quinn in Singapore

Quinn was born in London on 8 January 1964 to a French mother and a British father.[4][5] He spent his early years in Paris, where his father was a physicist working at the BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures). Quinn recalls an early fascination with the scientific instruments in his father's laboratory, in particular atomic clocks.[6] He attended Millfield (a private boarding-school in Somerset) and studied history and history of art at Robinson College, Cambridge.[7]

In the early 1990s, Quinn was the first artist to be represented by gallerist Jay Jopling. The artist had his first exhibition with Jopling in 1991, exhibiting Self (1991), a frozen self-portrait made out of nine pints of the artist's blood.[8]

During the 1990s, Quinn and several peers were identified for their radical approach to the making and experiencing of art. In 1992, the loosely affiliated group was called the 'Young British Artists' by writer Michael Corris in Artforum, and included Cornelia Parker, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, and Tracey Emin.[9]

In 1995, Quinn was given a solo exhibition at Tate Britain where new sculptures were shown as part of the Art Now series.[8] In 1997 Quinn's work Self (1991), was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London for the exhibition Sensation. Quinn's Self, along with works by Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst, were already distinguished amongst the British public. The exhibition received widespread media attention and had a record number of visitors for a contemporary art exhibition.[10] The exhibition then travelled to the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, and to the Brooklyn Museum, New York.[11]

In 1998, he was given a solo exhibition at the South London Gallery,[12] and in 1999, he had a solo exhibition at Kunstverein Hannover.[13] The Groninger Museum presented a solo exhibition of Quinn's work in 2000.[14] The artist was then invited to present a solo exhibition at the Fondazione Prada in Milan in 2000, where he presented an ambitious new work Garden.[15][16] In 2002, he was given a solo exhibition at Tate Liverpool which included new works and photography,[17] and coincided with the Liverpool Biennial, where Quinn presented 1+1=3.[18] In 2001, the National Portrait Gallery gave Quinn a solo exhibition for his genomic portrait of Sir John Sulston.[19]

In 2004 Quinn was awarded the first-ever commission for the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, for which he produced a marble sculpture of pregnant disabled artist, Alison Lapper.[20]

In 2006, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Rome presented Marc Quinn's works in a solo exhibition focused on his recent figurative sculpture,[21] and in 2009, the Fondation Beyeler presented a solo exhibition of Marc Quinn's ongoing series Self, including all sculptures from 1991 to 2006.[22]

In 2012, Quinn was commissioned to produce a monumental work for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games at the London Olympics 2012, for which he produced Breath, a monumental sculpture of Alison Lapper held up by air.[23]

In 2013, Quinn presented a solo exhibition on the occasion of the 55th Venice Biennale for art, at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, curated by Germano Celant.[24]

Quinn's first monograph Memory Box by Germano Celant was published in 2013.[25] A feature-length documentary about Quinn's life and work, Making Waves, was released in 2014, produced and directed by Gerry Fox.[26] London's Somerset House presented a solo exhibition of Quinn in 2015, focusing on recent sculptures.[27]

In 2017, Marc Quinn staged a major exhibition at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London. The exhibition was the first in a new series of collaborations with contemporary artists, designers and architects, which, inspired by the spirit of Sir John Soane, sought to bring the collection to life in innovative ways.[28]

Quinn's early work was concerned with issues of corporeality, decay, and preservation. He experimented with organic and degradable materials including bread, blood, lead, flowers and DNA producing sculpture and installation, including Bread Sculptures (1988), Self (1991), Emotional Detox (1995), Garden (2000), and DNA Portrait of John Sulston (2001). In the 2000s, he began to focus on the use of marble, bronze, and concrete. The artist explored the body and its extremes through the lens of classical and urban materials; works included The Complete Marbles (1999 - 2005), Alison Lapper Pregnant (2004), Evolution (2005 - 2009) and Planet (2008). Since 2010 he has worked with metals including stainless steel, aluminium, graffiti paints, seaside detritus, tapestry and painting, as seen in The History Paintings (2009–present) and The Toxic Sublime (2014–present).

An orchid sculpture by Marc Quinn on the Seilersee in Iserlohn

In May 2010, Quinn revealed a series of new sculptures at London's White Cube gallery including The Ecstatic Autogenesis of Pamela based on film actress Pamela Anderson and Chelsea Charms based on pornography model Chelsea Charms.[43]

Quinn's models have included "Catman" Dennis Avner (who has been tattooed to look like a cat) and transsexual people such as Thomas Beatie, Buck Angel, and Allanah Starr. Quinn's portrait sculpture "Buck & Allanah" depicts the two nude, standing hand in hand, in a pose reminiscent of Adam and Eve. The sculpture of Thomas Beatie depicts him at full-term pregnancy, bowing his head and cradling his abdomen with two hands.

The exhibition also included a new series of flower paintings executed in reversed colour and two large-scale orchid sculptures in white painted bronze, installed in Hoxton Square, opposite the gallery.

A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020

''A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020

Main article: A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020

The sculpture A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020 was erected secretly in Bristol in the early morning of 15 July 2020; it is Quinn's statue of Black Lives Matter protester, Jen Reid.[44] The statue was mounted on the plinth which formerly held a 19th-century statue of Edward Colston, a Bristol merchant, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament who had been involved in the Atlantic slave trade.[45][46] Just over 24 hours after the statue was installed, the Bristol City Council had it taken down as it did not have permission to be installed.[47] The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, invited Quinn to make a contribution towards the cost to the council of having his statue removed.[47]

• Tate Modern, London[50]
• National Portrait Gallery, London[51]
• Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam[52]
• Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
• Berardo Collection Museum, Lisbon
• Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal[53]
• Museum of Modern Art, New York[54]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.[55]

Quinn has participated in a number of charity auctions since 2010. Quinn's work was auctioned for the UK's homelessness charity, Crisis, in collaboration with Vogue at Christie's in 2010.[56] In 2013, Quinn donated work to the Mimi Foundation charity for cancer auction at Sotheby's.[57] Quinn donated work to the charity auction for Peace One Day at Bonhams, curated by Jake Chapman, in 2014 and 2015.[58]

In 2013 Quinn was commissioned to make a work for RHS Chelsea Flower Show, marking the first time an artist collaborated with the flower show in its 100-year history. The Rush of Nature (2013) was auctioned at Sotheby’s to help raise money for RHS Chelsea Centenary Appeal.[59]

Work by Quinn was auctioned at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation annual St. Tropez Gala in 2016, supporting environmental protection.[60]

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