Overview:
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 orchid family, which has been rendered in exquisite detail. The fine papery petals each distinguished by unique venation, defy the properties of the bronze medium in which they are cast to almost weightless and ethereal. Every element of the sculpture aspires to the perfection of reality, the accurate rendition of natural beauty. This work belongs to a series of sculptures and paintings through which Quinn has explored the concept of ideal beauty achieved, especially through genetic modification.