Marc Quinn is parting ways with White Cube Gallery after more than 20 years.  Quinn was the first artist Jay Jopling worked with at the gallery, and just recently closed an exhibition late last year with the space.  “We are not representing him anymore,” says a gallery spokeswoman. “We wish him every continued success with his future projects.†(more…)
Marc Quinn, The Toxic Sublime – The Toxic Sublime – 7&3Y6″>;X[:0#’y (2015), via White Cube
Artist Marc Quinn returns to his beloved shoreline for a new exhibition of works at White Cube this month, a continuation of the artist’s ongoing interest with the motion and resulting detritus that defines patterns of water, flow, and humanity’s relationships with these fluid forces. (more…)
Marc Quinn, All the Time in the World (Installation View), via Mary Boone
Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea is currently exhibiting four new bronze sculptures and one oil painting, which together make up an exhibition by Marc Quinn entitled All the Time in the World. The display was opened to the public on May 4th, during the busy weeks around Frieze New York, and will remain on view through June 29th, 2013.   The exhibition also corresponds with Quinn’s major retrospective of works currently on view at the Fondation Giorgio Cini in Venice this summer. (more…)
Sculptor Marc Quinn has unveiled his most recent installation commission, a massive rendering of the artist’s son at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore.  The sculpture, titled Planet, is intended to play on notions of weight and scale, and continues Quinn’s record of major public works, following his bust of Allison Lapper on Trafalgar Square’s 4th plinth.  (more…)
FIAC crowds, photo by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed
FIAC closed today, Sunday October 21st, with dealers reporting strong sales and a collective sigh of relief that the proposed inclusion of artwork over €50,000 to France’s wealth tax had not passed.  The fair was, by all accounts, well-organized and exhibited an impressive program of young galleries alongside work by established blue-chip artists. This year the fair added exhibition space in the Salon d’Honneur, the newly-renovated upper floor of the historic Grand Palais.  In past years the fair has seen more European collectors, but this year dealers reported sales to many collectors from Asia, Russia and the Middle East as well. The fair was directed by Jennifer Flay.
Marc Quinn, The Origin of the World, 2012, photo by Tiphaine Popesco for Art Observed
From September 13 to October 31, 2010, Sotheby’s London will exhibit 24 works of sculpture at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Each of the pieces is offered for sale in the auction house’s fifth Selling Exhibition of Modern and Contemporary Sculpture, titled Beyond Limits. Among the artists featured are Lynn Chadwick, Yue Minjun, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Subodh Gupta, Ju Ming, Eduardo Chillida, Germaine Richer and Barry Flanagan.
Man in the Mirror (2010) by Marc Quinn, via The Guardian.
Currently on view at White Cube Hoxton Square is “Allanah, Buck, Catman, Chelsea, Michael, Pamela, and Thomas,” a new body of work by British artist Marc Quinn. The exhibit brings together new sculptures by the artist which depict individuals after having gone through extreme amounts of plastic surgery including hormone therapy, piercings, implants and transplants. The works emphasize Quinn’s continual interest in society’s obsession with the body and how it can be transformed.
More text and related links after the jump…. (more…)
Jeanne-Claude, the radical artist best known for the joint projects undertaken with her husband Christo – most notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with bright orange panels in Central Park in 2005 – dies at the age of 74 in New York City [Guardian] a review of some of the couple’s monumental art here [Guardian]
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) reconsiders plans for a Jeff Koons sculpture involving a replica of a 70-ft 1944 Baldwin locomotive to hang from a crane and estimated to cost $25 million [LATimes]
to stay apprised of the latest relevant news of the art world…
–> Iris (We share our chemistry with the stars) MQ 2801 (2009) by Marc Quinn, via Mary Boone Gallery
Currently on view at Mary Boone Gallery is Iris, featuring new paintings by Marc Quinn. Each work depicts large renditions of the iris of the human eye spotted and permeated with bright colors. Such new works refer back to Quinn’s recurring themes of the body and identity, flesh and the spirit. The works examine the significance of the eye, which since Biblical times have been likened to representations of the soul.  The works also recall earlier works by Quinn such as Self (1991), in which the artist’s head was cast in his own blood, where he similarly examines the act of bringing the inside out.
On Thursday, October 15, Frieze Art Fair opened in London under media speculation about how gravely the meltdown of the world’s financial markets has hit the art world. Despite anticipation from all involved for a more cautious and flat atmosphere, walking around the fair this weekend one could not help but notice the general buzz.
Polar Bears of the Liro, Marc Quinn (2008) Sold within estimate range for £97,250
The Contemporary Sales at Phillips de Pury & Company on Saturday October 17 offered a truly diverse selection of works from premier Contemporary artists. The 43-lot evening sale included four unique works by Martin Kippenberger from the Bleich-Rossi Collection alongside exciting works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucio Fontana, Steven Parrino, On Kawara, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Jonathan Meese. The Day sale kicked off with a charity auction of twenty-one works by internationally renowned artists, including Anselm Kiefer, Rudolf Stingel and Francesco Vezzoli, to benefit the EMERGENCY charitable organization. The total sales from the Day sale amounted to £2,643,713 and the Evening sale brought in £4,104,950 against a low estimate of £5 million.
Jeff Koons’s giant rabbit at the Covent Garden in London via Hypebeast
A giant helium-filled Jeff Koons balloon made its UK debut on October 8th, the inflatable rabbit floated above central London, it will be displayed in Covent garden [The Independent] Coinciding with the Frieze fair, the 10th Turbine Hall commission launches, Baldessari’s retrospective opening the same day, Hayward Gallery presents Ed Ruscha, Turner Prize coming up and many other shows and openings, turn London into the center of attention [Guardian UK]
Frieze art fair excites not merely the International art scene, but also the social diaries of those who like to mingle with the rich and famous [Guardian UK] the contemporary art event even has installations to turn its visitors into the subjects of the artwork. [The Independent] Only displaying works by contemporary living artists, Frieze has been considered 1-dimensional in the past. Frieze helps London take over the art world in October [The Independent]- but not without competition, as FIAC, the Parisian fair, is to begin next week and may steal the battle as art collectors in today’s economic climate are forced to pick which fairs they will be attending [The Wall Street Journal]
A drawing sold at auction for $19,000 in the late 1990s is now attracting attention for its authorship, if by Leonardo Da Vinci, a theory that recent research strongly suggests, the work could be worth as much as $147 million [Bloomberg]
The Wapping Project in London, often compared to Tate Modern, is expanding with the opening of the Wapping Project Bankside- a new gallery reminiscent of a New York loft to feature film, video and photography almost “a stone’s throw” from Tate [The Moment]
The Whitney Museum of American Art’s plans for a second Renzo Piana location have advanced [The New York Times]
To stay apprised of most of the relevant art news for this past week …(more…)
–> Angel of the North (Life-Size Maquette), Antony Gormley 1997. Via Chatsworth
Currently on display in the grounds of Chatsworth House, home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, is Sotheby’s ‘Beyond Limits‘; a selling exhibition of modern and contemporary sculpture which the auction house claims is their “largest and most diverse to date.” The exhibition will continue through November 1. It will be the fourth year of the installation, which has become known as one of the most prestigious platforms for displaying monumental works in an outdoor setting. On display are bronze sculptures by Henry Moore and Aristade Millol, as well as contemporary pieces by Antony Gormley, Marc Quinn, Subodh Gupta and Fernando Botero. All works on display are available for private sale.
–> Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped, Henry Moore (1975). Via Sotheby’s
From the Marc Quinn exhibition currently hosted by the Salzburg branch of Galerie Thaddeus Ropac.
It’s the last chance to view works by Marc Quinn at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Salzburg. Â “Material Dematerialize” is the artist’s first solo show at the gallery. Â It is a mix of painting and sculpture which focuses on the virtual and the real: where they overlap, where the lines blur and where the material dematerializes. Â All works in the show are exhibited publicly for the first time.
RALEIGH WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY IN MORTGAGE FRAUD CONSPIRACY.
States News Service January 11, 2010 GREENVILLE — The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina: in our site employment verification letter
The United States Attorney’s Office announced that in federal court January 8, 2010, MARY ROSE WRIGHT, 43, of Raleigh, North Carolina, pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge David W. Daniel to wire fraud and conspiring to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud.
A Criminal Information was filed on November 23, 2009. According to the Information, from August, 2006, to November, 2006, WRIGHT, working as a mortgage broker for Fairway Mortgage, worked with others to defraud various financial institutions through the submission of false and fictitious mortgage loan applications. Using a falsified Power of Attorney giving authority on behalf of a co-conspirator to execute all documents in connection with the property purchase, WRIGHT then prepared false United States Individual Income Tax Returns for years 2004 and 2005 and a self-employment verification letter and caused to have prepared a fabricated financial statement to use in obtaining the property. She then submitted an offer to purchase a property. go to site employment verification letter
On November 27, 2006, WRIGHT submitted a loan application, which included false representations regarding borrower’s address, employment, bank account information, and rental real estate schedule, in connection with the purchase of the residential Raleigh property. That same day Equity Services, Inc., loaned a co-conspirator $1,537.500 for the property purchase.
In November, 2006, WRIGHT’s co-conspirator gave her $120,000 from a previously fraudulently obtained mortgage loan from Washington Mutual in the amount of $2,996,969 to be used as a down payment for the purchase of the Raleigh property. On November 27, 2006, WRIGHT took possession of the property after executing a HUD-1 statement containing false and fraudulent information. To date, no mortgage payments have been made.
“In recent years we have seen how pervasive bank fraud has become and how devastating it has been to our banking institutions and our economy. This guilty plea is another step in the Justice Department’s effort to deal with this problem and to ensure integrity in our financial systems,” stated John Stuart Bruce, Acting United States Attorney.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. This case is being handled by the Office’s Economic Crimes Section, with Assistant United States Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan assigned as prosecutor .
PR photo of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, via the Guardian UK.
Noted British sculptor and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley is seeking to recruit up to 2,400 volunteers to participate in his latest work, One & Other, atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.
Participants will have an entire hour atop the plinth, and are free to do anything legal. Gormley has commented that he expects there to be “naked riots,” and that he would be “upset if at least one person did not take their clothes off.” The only requirements for partake in One and Other are that participants are over 16 years of age and are residents of the UK while the show is on display. Applications will be accepted through a website designed for that purpose, and Sky Arts will broadcast coverage of the plinth. Video coverage of the plinth will also be streaming live at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The website will notify participants in three tranches starting in April.
On the motivation and objective behind the ‘sculpture,’ Gormley had this to say:
“The idea behind One & Other is a simple one. Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought. In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny.” — via the Guardian UK
Gormley won the opportunity to display One and Other through a process run by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. Other artists who have exhibited on the plinth include Marc Quinn, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Schutte.
The National Portrait Gallery, home to portraits of major British figures such as kings, queens, and prime ministers, has set its eyes on acquiring ‘Self,’ a sculptural self-portrait of Marc Quinn made from ten pints of his own frozen blood. Marc Quinn–one of the most celebrated of the YBAs (Young British Artists) along with Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin–has made three sculptures using his blood as the raw material since 1991, and has said that he plans on making similar sculptures every five years until he is unable to. The original ‘Self’ was acquired by advertising magnate Charles Saatchi for £13,000; White Cube Gallery is offering the NPG the most recent iteration (dating from 2006) for £350,000, with its open market value being quoted at £1.5 million. The Art Fund and several other sources have committed £150,000 to acquiring the work, leaving £200,000 which the NPG needs to raise by December 31st.
Today, The British Museum opened Statuephilia – a show of five major contemporary sculptures by five leading British artists – Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Ron Mueck, Antony Gormley, and Noble and Webster. The works are placed separately throughout the museum’s permanent collection in their respective relevant historical contexts. The exhibition includes Siren, Marc Quinn’s life size solid 18 carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a Yoga position which is set in the museum’s Nereid Room among ancient statues of Greek goddesses which was previously covered by AO here.
In a literal and symbolic sign of how large the scale contemporary art market has become, a seven ton, ten metre sculpture of a seven-month-old baby is up for sale to private individuals at the aptly named Beyond Limits, a Sotheby’s selling exhibition at Chatsworth, the Peak District home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The piece entitled “Planet” is one of more than twenty sculptures on display this week at Sotheby’s. The behemoth work is a bronze cast painted in a brilliant shade of white and is modeled after an earlier version inspired by a mold of the artist’s baby son. The work was produced by Marc Quinn, who achieved prominence and notoriety when his sculpture of Alison Lapper (a disabled, pregnant friend of Quinn’s and fellow artist) was placed on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square in 2005. Recently the artist reveled a teaser image of his golden statute of Kate Moss which will be unveiled at the Statuephilia exhibit at the British Museum, previously covered here.
Charlotte Rampling will star in ‘Boogie Woogie’ via carmenhaid.com
In November of this year ‘Boogie Woogie’ a comedy lampooning the fine art world is set to be released. Boogie Woogie has a strong cast and is directed by the documentary film maker Duncan Ward, who is the husband of art curator Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst. The film is based on a novel published in 2000 and written by Danny Moynihan, who was once curator and is a friend of the artist Damien Hirst. Hirst created a limited-edition cover for the book which featured works by Sarah Lucas, Marc Quinn and Jeff Koons. Additionally, Charles Saatchi was quoted in the jacket comments for the book.