An instinctually revolting, but on second look mesmerizing artwork, Self, a series of sculptures made by Young British Artist Marc Quinn, has stirred up lots of thoughts and conversation over the last 30 years of its continuous making. The sculptures work on shock factor, a true self portrait, if only because they are actually made up by the artists own blood and DNA (Wilson, 2020).
To create his series, Quinn collected 10 pints of his own blood over the course of a year. On his website, it is stated that he went to five sessions, each one every six weeks. Within that amount of time, he and his team created a plaster cast of his head, and when all the blood was harvested, filled it up and froze it. Peeling back the cast reveals a detailed sculpture of Quinn, red and slightly purple in some places, reminiscent of an icee.
The series was first started in 1991, when he revealed his first “bloody head." This process has since then been repeated four times, each bloody Quinn head five years older than the prior.
Today, Self (2006) can be seen at London’s National Portrait Gallery.
While the methods used to create the pieces could be considered gruesome, they are not without thought. “Ten pints is the average amount of blood in a human body, so among the other effects of Self is to make the spectator aware of the modest volume of this vital substance required to sustain a life (Wilson, 2020)." Seeing that amount of blood in front of you can upset and shock you, knowing that such a small quantity of something is needed to sustain life.
The heads have to preserved in a freezer to be viewed, giving new meaning to Quinns creation. “The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance (MARC QUINN, 2011)." In other words, the pieces needing to be frozen to keep from melting talks about not only the dependency on electricity and a very low temperature relating to the dependency of people on medical help, mental help, or, when all else fails, illegal substances, but also the fragility of the human body and the blood within it.
The sculpture being a head can also be connected to this, seeing as head injuries bleed more than other injuries, and when it comes to using illegal substances, it always circles back to mental health, emotional health, and the effect the brain has on the human body. The whole self is contained in the head, and it is the most fragile and precious part of the body. Freezing it can also be seen as a nod to modern day cryo-preservation, seeing as now technology can preserve human bodies for future generations.
“As with his public artworks, Quinn's wider output has long sought to provoke and challenge the viewer, (Waugh, 2020)" and this can be seen in Self as well. People who have learned of the background behind this artwork can recognize how it represents what it is trying to represent, and how, while mildly gruesome, it is beautiful and thoughtful as well. In a video made by AFP News Agency in 2009, Rosie Broadley, an assistant curator at London’s National Portrait Gallery, says “the sound of it, that the idea of it, it is potentially quite gory. But I think, when you actually see the work, the beauty of it, the color of the blood is a wonderful color, overrides that impression, and we haven’t had anyone yet who’s had a negative reaction, in that respect.”
On the other hand, viewers also have a differing opinion, often writing comments on the internet about how the head is disgusting, gross, and a novelty and cheap shot. Often times, a comment mentions how instead of using all that blood to make something worthless, he could have been donating it instead, leading to a question of if the work is contradicting itself. The piece is trying to show that we all need blood, and the dependency on it, but using it to create a sculpture instead of putting it to good use is denying that dependency.
So, while the first thought in everyone’s heads is repulsion, reaching behind the medium can lead to thoughts on decomposition, and most importantly, the impermanence of life.
Broadley R. (2009) ‘A frozen head of blood goes on display’.
Interview with Rosie Broadley. Interviewed for AFP News Agency.
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ7_KQzS2iw
(Accessed Oct. 24, 2022)
‘Self - Marc Quinn’ MARC QUINN
Available at: http://marcquinn.com/artworks/self
(Accessed Oct. 24, 2022)
Waugh, R. (2020) ‘Marc Quinn, public sculpture and controversial debate’. ArtUK
Available at: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/marc-quinn-public-sculpture-and-controversial-debate
(Accessed Oct. 24, 2022)
Wilson, M. (2020) ‘A-level: Marc Quinn, Self’. Smarthistory.
Available at: https://smarthistory.org/a-level-marc-quinn-self/.
(Accessed Oct. 24, 2022)
