I'm busy grappling with my Master's at the moment...It sometimes is pretty tough to keep yourself motivated. In my case the thing that does the job is the artwoks that inspire me to research conservation and re-exhibition, one of them is Marc Quinn's "Blood Head" or "Self".
Self consists of Quinn's head cast out of his own blood. The blood remains frozen in a refrigerator display case, and the artwork is re-cast at an interval of 5 years. Then a new cast is made and Quinn's fresh blood is used and a new mold is made portraying him at that stage of life.
Quinn's first Self was made in 1991 and was first exhibited as part of the Sensation exhibition.
The recasting of the head does not only address the artist's physical deterioration but it's fragile nature also underlines conservational problems that increasingly appear in contemporary art.
Quinn's 2006 Self is part of the National Portrait Gallery. This work definitely challenges our conventional idea of what constitutes an artwork which makes it an important acquisition to the Portrait Galleries collection.
check out more of the artist's work here: http://www.marcquinn.com
Posts
