The artist Marc Quinn (born 1964, London) is one of the foremost representatives of the contemporary British art scene. His work focuses mainly on aging and mortality, the beauty and strangeness of the human body, the play between art and science. Via numerous references to the classical themes in art history, Marc Quinn underlines the constant shift between reality and its deflection. Yet his work is distinguished by a sense of humor and a provocative feel peculiar to the YBA (Young British Artists), the generation of British artists who emerged on the scene in the ‘90s. Marc Quinn applies different techniques to his artworks that include some controversial pieces. For example, the sculpture Self (1991) is a cast of the artist’s head filled with his own frozen blood, or Siren (2008), a sculpture in gold representing the supermodel Kate Moss but also the famous installation Winter Garden (2000) at the Fondazione Prada in Milan, made from hundreds of flowers frozen for eternity. Although his first sculptures date from 1984, his work quickly met international acclaim and is equally at home at the Tate Gallery as at the Centre Georges Pompidou. A fascination with the human body has led this Cambridge graduate and freethinker to recreate a veritable mythology around contemporary society through his sculpture, painting, drawing and photography.

“ I still think science is looking for answers and art is looking for questions. „

—Marc Quinn