Slightly Morbid
Back from England with a crush on Big Ben and a huge list of artists and other creative types that I found inspiring in the motherland. But on an unusual note, I thought I’d continue my blogging with one artwork that I didn’t find exactly inspirational, rather, frightening as shit! I was so freaked about Mark Quin’s ‘Self’ artwork, in fact I’m kinda freaked out right now as I Google Image search it. One thing ‘Self’ doesn’t lack is that ‘wow’ factor; located in London’s National Portrait Gallery (Way better then the National Art Gallery itself) ‘Self’ is a 3D model cast of the artist’s head frozen inside a glass and metal container. Where things get interesting is what the cast is made from; a combination of 10 pints of the artist’s own blood (collected over a period of 5 months) with other preservative chemicals. Pretty creepy. Unaware of what it was made of, I initially approached the artwork admiring the mahogany crystal like appearance of the sculpture as it seemed to float within an glass container filled with water…To then be completely repulsed upon reading what it actually was, yet I couldn’t help staring. I hope you find it as hauntingly fascinating as I do.
Alyssa