Overview:
The blood sculptures all use the material of figuration and life itself. Quinn was drawn to life casts for these works since it is the most faithful, photographic way of making a portrait. Blood is the essence of life; a material that has both a symbolic and real function. In the series of Self sculptures, Quinn uses ten pints of his own blood to create a self-portrait in both shape and material, a work that is both an image and a real part of him. In Beauty and The Beast, Quinn has depicted his adolescent stepdaughter sitting in a classical pose, cast in animal blood and wax. The work’s title alludes to the potential future loss of innocence and to the sitter's real identity, poised at a moment of transition between childhood and adulthood. For Lucas, Quinn depicts the head of his newborn son formed of his own placenta. The work deals with the notion of emergence: of the both the subject's identity and his physical shape, which is literally being formed each day from birth. Quinn used his son’s placenta to sculpt this work since it represents the meeting point and link between mother and baby. Used in this way, it represents the moment of separation from the mother's body and the idea of a child emerging or becoming himself.