Light into Life
at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew

Face to Face: Marc Quinn meets Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Belvedere Museum Vienna
Belvedere Museum Vienna, 24 February 2022 - 3 July 2022

Belvedere Palace will juxtapose Marc Quinn’s eight-part sculpture series Emotional Detox with the iconic Character Heads by Baroque sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. The exhibition at the Upper Belvedere presents a powerful dialogue between contemporary art and major works from the museum’s historical collection. Messerschmidt’s work has long been an inspiration to Quinn, the Character Heads directly influencing the creation of Emotional Detox.

HISTORYNOW
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia, 21 April - 23 October 2022

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 present.

Quinn’s works, which begin their life as iPhone screenshots, replicate the digital portals through which humans absorb, consume, and share news, a phenomenon markedly accelerated by the events of the last two years. Through screens, society witnesses world-shifting cultural events, incidents of human tragedy, and natural disasters, alongside moments of pop cultural levity in one endlessly refreshing stream.

A joint statement from Marc Quinn and Jen Reid
Artist Marc Quinn and Bristol Resident Jen Reid Unveil a New Public Sculpture, 'A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020,' on the Vacant

Artist Marc Quinn and Bristol resident Jen Reid unveil a new temporary, public installation, A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, on top of Edward Colston’s empty plinth in Bristol, England. This life-sized sculpture is based on an image the artist saw on Instagram of local resident Jen Reid standing on the vacant plinth with her fist raised in a Black Power salute, a spontaneous moment following a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020. During the protest, a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was toppled from this spot. Cast in black resin, this new sculpture A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020 takes its place. No formal 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 being thrown into the river felt like a truly historical moment; huge.

When I was stood there on the plinth, and raised my arm in a Black Power salute, it was totally spontaneous, I didn’t even think about it. It was like an electrical charge of power was running through me. My immediate thoughts were for the enslaved people who died at the hands of Colston and to give them power. I wanted to give George Floyd power, I wanted to give power to Black people like me who have suffered injustices and inequality. A surge of power out to them all.

I’m collaborating with Marc Quinn on this project as he cares about pushing inclusion to the forefront of people’s minds and uses his art to make people think. Creating this sculpture is so important as it helps keep the journey towards racial justice and equity moving, because Black lives matter every day.

This sculpture is about making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for Black people like me. It’s about Black children seeing it up there. It’s something to feel proud of, to have a sense of belonging, because we actually do belong here and we’re not going anywhere.”

MARC QUINN

“This sculpture captures a moment. It happened in the middle of the news and the worldwide ripple effect from George Floyd’s killing – all of which I had been following. My friend who knew this showed me a picture on Instagram of Jen standing on the plinth in Bristol with her fist in a Black Power salute. My first, instant thought was how incredible it would be to make a sculpture of her, in that instant. It is such a powerful image, of a moment I felt had to be materialised, forever. I contacted Jen via social media to discuss the idea of the sculpture and she told me she wanted to collaborate.

The public realm feels so vital at the moment, as a space to activate ideas and create change. It feels essential in particular for public art to play its part. In 2005, I made a sculpture of Alison Lapper Pregnant for Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth and learnt how effective public art can be in stimulating attention and discussion around urgent issues. The plinth of Edward Colston in Bristol seems the right place to share this sculpture about the fight against racism, which is undoubtedly the other virus facing society today.

Jen and I are not putting this sculpture on the plinth as a permanent solution to what should be there - it’s a spark which we hope will help to bring continued attention to this vital and pressing issue. We want to keep highlighting the unacceptable problem of institutionalised and systemic racism that everyone has a duty to face up to. This sculpture had to happen in the public realm now: this is not a new issue, but it feels like there’s been a global tipping point. It’s time for direct action now.

As well as being a person in the world, I’m an artist and a big part of my work is making art about historical moments within contemporary society. Like my History Paintings which I have been making over the last decade, which started with an image from the London riots following the death of Mark Duggan. In my work I look to the world and am committed to reflecting what I see, including inequalities and injustices. Prejudice, such as racism, is part of that.

Keeping the issue of Black people’s lives and experiences in the public eye and doing whatever I can to help is so important. Those of us who have privilege have a duty to be part of change. Something that Desmond Tutu said resonates with me strongly: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” I think this sums up how we’ve reached the point where white people have to be allies and white people in positions of power need to speak up and actively combat racism. For me this has meant taking time to educate myself, listen to others and find a meaningful way of contributing. The reasons why Jen wanted to do this together are so important, this sculpture is an embodiment and amplification of Jen’s ideas and experiences, and of the past, present and her hope for a better future.”

NOTES

The installed sculpture, A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, is not-for-profit. If sold, all profit will be donated to two charities chosen by Jen Reid, namely Cargo Classroom, a Black history syllabus created for Bristol teenagers and The Black Curriculum, a social enterprise founded in 2019 by young people to address the lack of Black British history in the UK curriculum.

HISTORYNOW
New series

Marc Quinn’s HISTORYNOW (2020-present) series survey our increasing digital interdependence at a vital point in history. In 2020, our online world expanded drastically, a phenomenon catalysed by growing restrictions on physical connection and in-person contact related to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a few clicks of a smartphone, we could discover news from every part of the world, educate ourselves on different perspectives, and engage with political agendas and social standpoints instantaneously. Each post, screenshot, share and view were synaptic to a new collective consciousness.


The HISTORYNOW paintings start life as smartphone screenshots which are enlarged and pigment-printed on canvas before being overpainted with gestural strokes that alternately distort, blur and highlight aspects of the image and text beneath. Retaining the iPhone’s original proportions but enlarged to 240 x 110 cm (8’0” x 3’7”), these uncanny, colossal screengrabs communicate the distorted way in which way the pandemic was largely experienced by many from home, via device screens, and present a familiar first-person account of the daily updates and viral moments that universally consumed us during this shared historical moment. Quinn’s use of the screenshot vernacular reflects our growing preoccupation with mobile phones but also on their role in documentation and dissemination. Our camera rolls are full of screenshots, a new form of photography and the medium for sharing and receiving information to the world’s hivemind. The variety of news outlets and platforms deployed by Quinn showcase different perspectives and focuses during a time of uncertainty, change, but also innovation, telling a year of stories through screenshots. HISTORYNOW becomes a scrolling journey through our endlessly refreshed digital feeds of visual culture and breaking news alerts, capturing a range of worldwide events.


The HISTORYNOW paintings mark a new material chapter in Quinn’s ten-year History Paintings project, which riffs on the grand tradition of history painting by using recent images of global conflict taken directly from the media, enlarged and painted with oil on canvas or woven in silk and wool. While the press photographs featured in History Paintings take months to reproduce in oil, the use of photo printing in HISTORYNOW reflects the accelerated writing of history via constant online news updates and online communication.


Read more about the series here:
- The Guardian
- AnOther
- Artnet

BBC World Service - 100 Heads
A radio programme

Marc Quinn: Creating 100 sculptures of refugees is now available to listen to online. The programme was recorded over several months and follows Quinn in the creation of 100 Heads.
Listen to the full BBC World Service programme here.
Click here to visit the 100 Heads website.

Sotheby’s MayDay Charity Auction 2020
A charity auction

New series Far but Near, Lockdown Irises premiered at Sotheby’s 2020 MayDay Charity Auction. The auction lots were in the form of online experiences and 100% of sale profits are being donated to help the International Rescue Committee mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus in vulnerable communities. The series is an evolution of Quinn’s renowned iris paintings, which are collectively titled We Share Our Chemistry with the Stars.

Introducing 100 HEADS
A new series

Marc Quinn has unveiled 100 Heads, a significant new series of not-for-profit sculptures.

Visit the website at 100heads.org

‘Self-conscious Gene’ unveiled at the Science Museum
A permanent installation

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

History & Chaos
A solo exhibition

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 adding splashes of paint and obscuring the original photorealist image, Quinn creates a compelling visual representation of the pervasive information overload and chaos of the 24-hour news cycle and how it affects us mentally and emotionally.

United Artists for Europe
A Charity Auction

To coincide with the European elections over thirty leading contemporary artists, from all over Europe, united by donating artworks celebrating the European Union. The works were exhibited at Galerie Thaddaeus 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.

Marc Quinn: Under the Skin in Beijing
A solo exhibition at CAFA Art Museum, Beijing

In March 2019 CAFA Art Museum will present Quinn's first solo museum exhibition in China. Curated by Wang Chunchen, 'Under the Skin' presents a selection of works that touch upon recurring themes of art and science; the human body; emotion; and the perception of beauty. These works have been drawn from across Quinn's 30-year career and from multiple series, exploring his enduring interest in identity.

(RED) Eclipse on view at Miami, Art Basel

Made especially for this year’s (RED) Auction, Quinn's (RED) Eclipse will be sold to fight against AIDS.

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

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'.

“Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and The Body” at the Met Museum
A group exhibition

Marc Quinn's first ever 'Self' sculpture is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition 'Like Life: Sculpture, Color and The Body'. Exhibited alongside well-known masterpieces by Donatello, El Greco, Canova and Rodin the exhibition examines over seven hundred years of sculptural practice from the fourteenth century to today.

‘Self-Conscious Gene’ to go on permanent display at the Science Museum
A permanent installation

'Self-Conscious Gene', a 3.5 metre bronze sculpture of ‘Zombie Boy’ by Marc Quinn, is to go on permanent display in the Science Museum’s new Medicine Galleries in autumn 2019. The Science Museum have commissioned Marc Quinn to make a monumental sculpture for their new Medicine Galleries, which will open in autumn 2019. The sculpture will greet visitors as they enter the Galleries, introducing the theme of ‘Medicine and the Bodies’.

The Classical Now
A group exhibition

Marc Quinn's sculpture "All About Love - Heaven" is on view in "Classical Now" an exhibition presented in partnership with Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins (MACM) and King's College London.

National Gallery Australia
Artist talk and group exhibition

On 12 October, 2017 the National Gallery Australia celebrated 35 years with Marc Quinn as its "Birthday Lecture" keynote speaker. In conversation with Kirsten Paisley, NGA Deputy Director the two discussed Quinn's practice and artistic examination of the body. With a focus on Quinn's iconic self-portrait Self, 2011, which is on view at the Museum's Hyper Real exhibition, the conversation explored the unique lens through which Self responds to the body, identity and the hyperrealism as an artform.

Drawn from Life
A solo exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum

Quinn’s new sculptures 'All About Love' go on view in his exhibition 'Drawn from Life' at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. The exhibition runs until 23 September 2017.

Thames River Water Atlas
An exhibition and series of new artist books published by Ivorypress

'Thames River Water', on view at Ivorypress in Madrid, is an exhibition born from Quinn’s examination of humanity’s relationship with nature.

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala
St Tropez, 20 July 2016

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.

Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick at Somerset House
6 July - 24 August 2016

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.

Marc Quinn collaboration with Dior
Dior presents the limited edition creations of Marc Quinn for new London House of Dior

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'.

Zombie Boy at SFMOMA Relaunch
San Francisco, Saturday 14 May 2016

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art relaunch features Zombie Boy (City), 2011 - Marc Quinn's figurative sculpture of the heavily tattooed Rick Genest, rendered in concrete.

HUMAN REPRODUCTION at Art New York
MAY 3 - 8 | INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MODERN ART FAIR

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 Quinn's 'Toxic Sublime' series exclusively available at the fair during the launch week.
Held against the backdrop of the Hudson River at Pier 94, Art New York will be the first presentation of Human Reproduction works in the U.S.

MTV RE:DEFINE Auction to benefit Dallas Contemporary and MTV Staying Alive Foundation
08 April 2016

Benefiting Dallas Contemporary and the MTV Staying Alive Foundation delivering vital HIV prevention messaging to a young international audience. Sarah Lucas / Cindy Sherman / Marc Quinn / Julian Schnabel / Jim Lambie / Daniel Arsham / Mat Collishaw / Michael Craig-Martin / Juergen Teller / Mario Testino...

‘The World Meets Here’
Dubai, 14 March 2016

Marc Quinn in conversation on the occasion of the opening of Custot Gallery, Dubai.

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

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

Marc Quinn: Frozen Waves, Broken Sublimes at Somerset House
17 September 2015

Opening on Thursday 17 September, four monumental sculptures by Marc Quinn will be presented in Somerset House’s historic Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court this Autumn.

Marc Quinn’s Eye on Fashion for Harper’s Bazaar US
Marc Quinn captures the eyes of today's top designers—including the elusive Karl Lagerfeld

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.

UK Premiere of ‘Making Waves’

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.

Opening of ‘The Toxic Sublime’

Marc's current exhibition The Toxic Sublime opened on 14 July. It runs until 13 September 2015.