Marc Quinn: Self, You, and the World

Recognised as one of the leading artists of his generation, Marc Quinn is not easily reduced to convenient labels. The most comprehensive book on Quinn to date, Self, You, and the World traces the artist’s three-decades-long fascination with the multifaceted experience of being human.

Marc Quinn came to international attention in 1991 with Self, a cast of his head made from his own frozen blood. His early explorations of the self would soon broaden to wider reflections on the experiences of others. Prominent in this shift was his acclaimed 2005 sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, exhibited on the Fourth Plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square. Quinn has since engaged with a number of urgent social and environmental issues through diverse materials and techniques that frequently animate connections between art and science, wrestling with the dichotomies of beauty and ugliness, the physical and the spiritual, the eternal and the mortal. This seminal overview features many of his most celebrated works alongside conversations with past sitters and fellow thinkers Ai Weiwei, Titus Kaphar, Alison Lapper, Kate Moss, Nella Ngingo, and Jen Reid, painting a picture of an artist insatiably curious about the world that surrounds him.

About the Authors:

Jefferson Hack is a curator, creative director, and co-founder of Dazed Media.

Shirley Ngozi Nwangwa writes about art, race, gender, and politics for the New York Times, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, Art Forum, ARTnews, amongst others.

Hettie Judah is chief art critic for the i, a regular contributor to the Guardian’s arts pages, and a columnist for Apollo magazine. She writes for Frieze, Art Quarterly, Art Monthly, ArtReview, and more.

Dr. Justin Bengry convenes the MA in Queer History at Goldsmiths University London and is director of Goldsmiths’ Centre for Queer History.