Study for Approaching Planck Density, 71 Kg
Artwork

Coaxial Planck Density
Artwork

Study for Approaching Planck Density, 66 Kg
Artwork

Study for Approaching Planck Density, 82.75 kg
Artwork

Study for Approaching Planck Density, 64.5 kg
Artwork

Study for Approaching Planck Density, 29 1/2 Kg
Artwork

Triaxial Planck Density
Artwork

Study of Skelly Boy
Artwork

Waiting for Godot
Artwork

Template For My Future Plastic Surgery
Artwork

Waiting for God 18/01/06
Artwork

Template For My Future Plastic Surgery (Aged 80)
Artwork

History Painting Emma [X] González Speaks at a Rally for Gun Control (Fort Lauderdale, 17 February 2018) RWB
Artwork

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala
studio

Quinn’s iris portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio goes on sale to raise money for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in support of the world’s natural environment and wildlife. The auction raised $45 million for charity.

Skeletons

…sculptures Angel and Waiting for Godot take the form of a praying skeleton and are an ironic reference to the idea of waiting for answers – or for some kind of external power to guide our life. The series of burning sculptures such as Matter into Light: On the Transformation…

United Artists for Europe
studio

…Ropac, Ely House, from May 21-23 and then auctioned for charity auction on June 3 with all funds going to European cultural projects in the arts.

Emotional Detox

…cathartic experience. Like the Planck Density works, they point to the fragility of life and a moment of catharsis: to the shedding of a toxic material – lead – and a release from the body’s epidermal perimeter. Small, square apertures in the sculptures are filled with candle wax, making the…

HISTORYNOW 20 April—20 October, 2022
National Archaeological Museum, Venice
Solo exhibition

HISTORYNOW 21 April – 23 October 2022 National Archaeological Museum of Venice Marc Quinn’s HISTORYNOW (2020 – present) series is presented for the first time at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia. Curated by Aindrea Emelife and...

Chelsea Flower Show 2013 21—26 May, 2013
Royal Horticultural Society (Chelsea Flower Show), London
Project

For the first time in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s 100-year history the RHS has collaborated with an artist to create an installation. Marc Quinn’s ‘The Rush of Nature’ was auctioned in association with Sotheby’s to...

Flask
Artwork

Biography
read

Marc Quinn (British, born 1964) is a leading contemporary artist. He first came to prominence in the early 1990s, when he and several peers redefined what it was to make and experience contemporary art. Marc Quinn makes art about what it is to be a person living in the world…

UK Premiere of ‘Making Waves’
studio

Making Waves, the feature length documentary made by Gerry Fox which follows Quinn’s life for a year, will premier in the UK in July and August 2015.

Faust

…the inherent meaning of certain materials, highlighting their potential for transformation and for meanings that can transcend their everyday use.

Artist's body

…and the notion that, for meaning, material is as important as form. The sculptures all use the artist’s own body as a model: both as a particular individual and a generic human form. In You Take my Breath Away (1992) and No Visible Means of Escape (1996) latex or rubber…

Art Everywhere 2014 21 July—31 August, 2014
Project

‘Art Everywhere’ was a charitable project that flooded our streets with great artworks for a whole summer of art voted for by the public. Across the UK, tens of thousands of posters and billboards saw...

Marc Quinn (Kunstverein Hannover) 27 June—22 August, 1999
Kunstverein, Hannover
Solo exhibition

The theme of this exhibition is the metamorphosis of one's own body as a metaphor for the balancing act between life and death; the transformation of solid to liquid and vice versa; and the sculptural...

Incarnate 30 May—4 July, 1998
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Solo exhibition

‘Incarnate’ displays Quinn's continuing fascination with the exploration of the self, and his talent for creating complex dialogues between material, medium and subject. ‘Incarnate’ is a beguiling statement of the ideas and preoccupations that have...

History Painting

…traditional celebratory tapestries of a war or battle created for the palace of a king. To read more about the works in this collection click here for a press release from the exhibition or here for an interview with Quinn.

Marc Quinn’s Eye on Fashion for Harper’s Bazaar US
studio

Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton and Karl Lagerfeld sit for Marc Quinn to create a series of three of Quinn’s unique iris portraits - ‘We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars’, featured in the September 2015 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

Evolution

…as the Dying Slave and the Rebellious Slave), made for the tomb of Pope Julius II. Quinn says this sculpture is “about how matter becomes alive”. Like The Complete Marbles series, the work was carved under Quinn’s direction by traditional stonemasons in Pietrasanta, Italy using scans of real embryos and…

Alison Lapper

…Lapper as a subject for representing someone who has overcome their own circumstances through what he calls “a different kind of heroism”. This aspect of the work was underlined when he made a 3.5 metre sculpture – Alison Lapper Pregnant - for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, a site…

Blood

…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…

Beauty and the Beast
Artwork

Immigrant Heritage Week Panel Discussion
read

In April 2019 Marc Quinn was invited by New York City’s Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs to present “Our Blood” in New York City. Joined by Fatuma Musa Afra, Sally Sussman and Mark Thompson the four panelists discussed art as a means for social change.

1 + 1 = 3
Artwork

'Marc Quinn - Making Waves' feature length documentary 16—19 October, 2014
British Film Institute (BFI)
Project

“Recording one year in the life of artist Marc Quinn, this energetic documentary delves into the nature of creativity. Given unprecedented insight into an artistic practice that zips around the globe, from new work in...

The Littoral Zone

…element of themselves necessary for their survival. In later works, the swimmers are absent and the sea becomes a mythical open space, which could be interpreted as sky or clouds. The images become timeless and placeless – as the planet was billions of years ago before the emergence of life…

The Sound of Silence
Artwork

Sonsbeek '93, Arnhem 5 June—26 September, 1993
Group exhibition

The Sonsbeek exhibition is not about escaping into a fictional aesthetic world, a world of pretty illusions, but the artists’ projects have to deal with the real issues that face the interior self, the body...

Marc Quinn x Yuval Noah Harari “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”
studio

From the author of ‘Homo Deus’ and ‘Sapiens’, Yuval Noah Harari’s new book ‘21 Lessons for the 21st Century’ grapples with a world that is increasingly hard to comprehend. Featured on the front cover is one of Quinn iris painting from the ‘We Share of Chemistry With the Stars’.

HISTORYNOW
studio

This Spring, Marc Quinn presents HISTORYNOW at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia, marking a new material chapter in his decade-long History Paintings project. Forty-eight new paintings and an accompanying STELE sculpture are presented in dialogue with the museum’s own collection from classical antiquity, inviting reflections on society past and…

Marc Quinn’s ‘Urban Nomad’ Desert Boot goes on sale to benefit The Halo Trust
studio

Fourteen artists create a limited edition Clarks Originals Desert Boot for Clarks: Rebooted.

The making of ‘Frozen Wave’
studio

Follow the process of creating the sculpture Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Mass).

Marc Quinn collaboration with Dior
studio

Reinventing a classic from the Dior collection - the Lady Dior bags - Quinn transposes his hyper-realist oil paintings to Dior creations. Designs incorporate motifs from works including ‘In the Night Garden’, ‘Fossil Record’ and ‘We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars’.

HUMAN REPRODUCTION at Art New York
studio

HUMAN REPRODUCTION at ART NEW YORK from 3RD - 8TH MAY. DANIEL ARSHAM, TANER CEYLAN, JAKE AND DINOS CHAPMAN, ZHANG HUAN, HENRY HUDSON, MARC QUINN and JASON SHULMAN. A curated selection of prints, limited edition sculptures and unique works on paper. Showcasing a new limited edition collagraph print from Marc…

The Eye of History - Marc Quinn’s New Cosmology
read

…littoral zone that Marc Quinn has been making art for over two decades. In works involving his body and those of others, as well as an extraordinarily diverse array of media and materials, Quinn has simultaneously shocked and seduced us into asking questions about who we are as late modern…

Beyond Limits 2014, Sotheby's at Chatsworth 8 September—26 October, 2014
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
Group exhibition

The ninth incarnation of ‘Beyond Limits’ at Chatsworth House opened today with Marc Quinn making a return appearance for the fifth year. 'Bermuda Triangle' is a monumental bronze shell, reproduced from a seashell, using a high-tech...

The making of ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’
studio

…to make the large scale sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. The sculpture was carved from white marble, weighs 13 tonnes and stands 3.55 metres high.

Beyond Limits 2011, Sotheby's at Chatsworth 16 September—30 October, 2011
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
Group exhibition

Sotheby's annual selling exhibition of monumental sculpture returned to Chatsworth for its sixth installment in 2011, with an extraordinary line up of artists, many of whom have never been shown at this magnificent location in...

‘Self-conscious Gene’ unveiled at the Science Museum
studio

Marc Quinn’s monumental sculpture titled Self-conscious Gene has been unveiled at the Science Museum in London, after almost a year in creation.

Chemical Life Support

…of drug in them. For Silvia Petretti, who is HIV positive, the casting wax has been mixed with her required anti-viral drug. Transplant survivor Carl Whittaker’s wax mould contains the drug cocktail that keeps his body from rejecting its own organs. In the works Innoscience and Free, Quinn depicts his…

Hyper Real 20 October, 2017 —18 February, 2018
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Group exhibition

Featuring uncanny figures with painted silicon skin, glass eyes, human hair and cutting-edge digital art, Hyper Real provokes reflection, fascination, fear and joy. From eerily lifelike sculptures to out-of-this-world virtual reality, this major exhibition charts...

1 + 1 = 3 (Rainbow Sculpture), Liverpool Biennial 2002 14 September—24 November, 2002
Cammell Laird Shipyard, Liverpool
Solo exhibition

Marc Quinn's use of the awesome Camell Laird Shipyard across the Mersey in Birkenhead as a site for his latest work seems typical of the Biennial's regeneration of urban spaces through art and culture. His projection...

Zombie Boy (Rick) Cu Pb Mn Fe Mg Si
Artwork

Face to Face: Marc Quinn meets Franz Xavier Messerschmidt 23 February—3 July, 2022
Belvedere Museum
Solo exhibition

Face to Face: Marc Quinn meets Franz Xavier Messerschmidt 23 February 2022 until 3 July 2022 Belvedere Museum, Vienna For the first time, the Belvedere in Vienna will present Marc Quinn’s eight-part sculpture series Emotional Detox together with...

A joint statement from Marc Quinn and Jen Reid
studio

…consent has been sought for the installation. JEN REID “On my way home from the protests on 7 June, I felt an overwhelming impulse to climb onto the plinth, just completely driven to do it by the events which had taken place right before. Seeing the statue of Edward Colston…

Marc Quinn (Tate Liverpool) 1 February—28 April, 2002
Tate Liverpool
Solo exhibition

Marc Quinn first gained recognition in 1991 for his sculpture ‘Self’, a life-size cast of his head made from his own frozen blood. His work takes a wide range of forms including painting, drawing, photography...

Marc Quinn (Scolacium Archaeological Park) 14 July—14 October, 2007
Scolacium Archaeological Park, Borgia
Solo exhibition

Quinn's ‘Totem’ was inspired by the mysterious Moai (statues) of Easter Island and the Sphinx in Gizah. The production process for the sculpture involved water-jet cutting the head in slices of expanded polystyrene using digital scan...

LOVE: L’arte Contemporanea Incontra L’Amore 28 September, 2016 —19 February, 2017
Chiostro del Bramante, Rome
Group exhibition

Bringing together icons of contemporary art, including Marc Quinn, Yayoi Kusama, Tom Wesselmann, Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, Gilbert & George, Francesco Vezzoli, Tracey Emin, Francesco Clemente, Joana Vasconcelos. The exhibition addresses one of the most...

HUMAN REPRODUCTION - Art New York 2016 3—8 May, 2016
Pier 94, 12th Avenue at 55th Street, New York
Project

HUMAN REPRODUCTION at ART NEW YORK. DANIEL ARSHAM, TANER CEYLAN, JAKE AND DINOS CHAPMAN, ZHANG HUAN, HENRY HUDSON, MARC QUINN and JASON SHULMAN. A curated selection of prints, limited edition sculptures and unique works on...

Free
Artwork

Kiss
Artwork

Alexandra Westmoquette
Artwork

Another Kiss
Artwork

Stuart Penn
Artwork

Catherine Long
Artwork

Tom Yendell
Artwork

Selma Mustajbasic
Artwork

Helen Smith
Artwork

Jamie Gillespie
Artwork

Penelope's Labour - Weaving Words and Images 31 May—15 September, 2011
Group exhibition

Quinn understands that "tapestry is a medium which joins two worlds - the medieval world and ours” but through a renewed interest in formal reproduction. For Quinn, the woven “knots are like pixels”, where tapestry...

100 Heads

…creation of Our Blood, Quinn’s major not-for-profit project which will launch at New York Public Library in 2022 before touring worldwide. Our Blood will raise funds for refugee charities including the International Rescue Committee, while heightening global awareness of the refugee crisis. ‘Scanning sitters is like the life casting of…

The Complete Marbles 10 January—28 February, 2004
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
Solo exhibition

With these marbles Quinn has taken an inert material, laden with tradition and used it to represent vibrantly living real people. They appear to be fragments, but are in fact portraits of whole people. By...

Marc Quinn (DHC/ART) 5 October, 2007 —6 January, 2008
Solo exhibition

Gathering over forty recent works, DHC/ART’s inaugural exhibition by conceptual artist Marc Quinn is the largest ever mounted in North America and the artist’s first solo show in Canada. Quinn is a central figure within...

Irises

…from the Greek word for ‘rainbow’. And in the colours, even in quite subtle, dark colours, there is a kind of celebration of individuality.” Furthermore, “in the middle you have that black hole of the pupil [and] all of the mystery and uncertainty of life. It’s a very profound expression…

Marc Quinn: Recent Sculpture 29 April—27 August, 2006
The Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
Solo exhibition

This is the first large-scale museum exhibition of the work of Marc Quinn in the Netherlands. The exhibition will display a selection of new and recent work such as ‘The Complete Marbles’, ‘The Big Bang’,...

The Invention of Carving
Artwork

DNA

…received the Nobel Prize for sequencing the human genome. These portraits, including one of Sulston himself, examine the notion of our unique identity visible in our DNA. The DNA was collected from each subject and then placed on framed agar jelly plates. While appearing totally abstract, they are in fact…

Beauty
Artwork

History & Chaos
studio

Premiering for the first time at the Goss-Michael Foundation in Dallas are Quinn’s Chaos Paintings. Created as an evolution of the artist’s History Painting series, in which he appropriate images from the never-ending news cycles and social media, the Chaos Paintings demonstrate how these images populate our mind. By continuously…

Peter Hull
Artwork

Second Skin - Historical Life Casting & Contemporary Sculpture 16 February—10 May, 2002
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Group exhibition

Second Skin explores the connections between the process of life casting and figurative sculpture. The exhibition also provides an opportunity to compare how casting was used by nineteenth-century sculptors and how it is used today....

Buck & Allanah
Artwork

Marc Quinn: All of Nature Flows Through Us 21 January—29 April, 2012
Kunsten - Museum of Modern Art Aalborg
Solo exhibition

Marc Quinn’s first solo show in Denmark, 'All of Nature Flows Through Us' presents large-scale sculptures and paintings from the period 2000 to 2011. In this show Quinn uses a startling array of materials, ranging from...

Breath
Artwork

Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick at Somerset House
studio

A new exhibition, curated by Mo’Wax and UNKLE founder, artist and musician James Lavelle, featuring a host of contemporary artists, film makers and musicians showcasing works inspired by Stanley Kubrick.

Selfs 8 June—19 July, 2009
Beyeler Foundation, Riehen / Basel
Solo exhibition

For the first time all of Marc Quinn's ‘blood head’ self-portraits will be exhibited together. Each portrait is a documentation of the artist’s head, as it ages every five years, and so represents a portrait...

CV
read

Lives and works in London 1985 BA History of Art, University of Cambridge 1964 Born in London

Ephemeral works (on life support)

…of dependency, an analogy for the world being dependent on technology as well as referencing his own personal dependency on alcohol early in his career. He has described the series of Self sculptures, each of which uses ten pints of the artist’s own blood as being, “...a work about addiction……

Statuephilia: Contemporary Sculptors at The British Museum 4 October, 2008 —25 January, 2009
The British Museum, London
Group exhibition

‘Statuephilia’ encourages us to look afresh at both modern and ancient art, to explore the similarities as well as differences between eras and cultures, and to remind ourselves of the perennial power of sculpture. The British...

Held by Desire 8 November, 2013 —4 January, 2014
White Cube, Hong Kong
Solo exhibition

White Cube Hong Kong present an exhibition by Marc Quinn in which he explores how desire shapes our universe and affects man's relationship with nature. Investigating the boundaries between art, nature and the 'man-made', Quinn...

Evolution
Artwork

Looking for Beauty in the Breaking Storm: Marc Quinn and the Aesthetics of Destruction
read

Hettie Judah writes about Marc Quinn’s exhibition Violence and Serenity.

The Beauty of Healing
Artwork

The Threads of History
read

Tim Marlow interviews Marc Quinn about his exhibition, The Sleep of Reason, at ARTER in 2014.

An Eye on Fashion - article in Harper's Bazaar US 1—30 September, 2015
Publication

Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton and Karl Lagerfeld sit for Marc Quinn to create a series of three of Quinn's unique iris portraits - 'We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars', featured in the September 2015...

Statements 7, 50th Venice Biennale 15 June—2 November, 2003
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Palazzo Venier dei Leoni), Venice
Group exhibition

The exhibition in Venice marked a highlight of the Statements series. Three new works by Steven Gontarski, Thomas Rentmeister and Marc Quinn were shown. Quinn's work, 'The Overwhelming World of Desire (Phragmipedium Sedenii)' is a work...

Beyond Limits 2009, Sotheby's at Chatsworth 14 September—1 November, 2009
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

2009 is a particularly significant year for sculpture at Chatsworth as it marks the complete re-installation of the historic Sculpture Gallery. Quinn's monumental Archaeology of Desire is based upon a naturalistic Phalaenopsis, a genus of the...

Bill Waltier (Blind from birth)
Artwork

The Sleep of Reason (Aklın Uykusu) 8 February—27 April, 2014
ARTER Space for Art, Istanbul
Solo exhibition

‘The Sleep of Reason’ brings together more than 30 works Marc Quinn has produced since 2000. Presenting the wide range of media and materials used by Quinn, the exhibition features a number of his seminal...