Скачать или смотреть Artist Marc Quinn on his new show at Kew Gardens in London | Christie's

Fortunately for Marc Quinn, London’s grey sky momentarily clears and the sun shines down on the morning he has chosen to unveil 17 sculptures at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in west London.

‘Visibility and light are really important for the show,’ says the British artist, standing before Event Horizon (Sabal), a five-metre-high, immaculately polished stainless-steel palm frond. ‘These works are like analogue screens. Once they’re placed outside, they become activated, reflecting elements like time, climate and the audience. Light is the beginning of their life.’

To those familiar with his work, Quinn is known as an artist who explores what it means to be human. He first came to prominence with the work, Self (1991), a frozen cast of his own head made from 10 pints of his blood. It played a starring role in the Royal Academy’s watershed 1997 show, Sensation, and firmly established Quinn, alongside Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, as one of the Young British Artists.

For the past year, Quinn — now 60 — has swapped the confines of his east London studio for Kew’s 326 acres of UNESCO-protected gardens, home to some 17,000 living species of plants. With the guidance of Kew’s scientists and horticulturists, he has pored over the collections, searching for the most fascinating specimens to work with.

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