Marc Quinn

Marc Quinn (British, born 1964) is a contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculptures, installations and paintings. He lives and works in London. He first came to prominence in the early 1990s, when he and several peers redefined what it was to make and experience contemporary art. In 2004 he was awarded the commission of for the first edition of the Forth Plinth in Trafalgar Square where he displayed his much praised and criticized marble statue of fellow artist Alison Lapper.

Through subjects including the body, genetics, identity, environment and the media, Quinn explores and makes art about what it is to be a person living in the world – whether it concerns Man’s relationship with nature and how that is mediated by human desire; or what identity and beauty mean and why people are compelled to transform theirs; or representing current, social history in his work. He has used a huge variety

of materials in his works, from blood, bread, flowers, stainless steel, concrete, marble, plastic etc.

Photo of Marc Quinn

Chosen Works

Frozen Waves

Frozen waves is a series of sculptures in stainless steel and white concrete made by Marc Quinn in 2015. Although the title of the works describe them as waves,

and the ones made of stainless steel looks like water, they are inspired by shells that have been eroded by the «endless action of waves», and the shapes the shells have before they disappear and become grains of sand. Right before the end of this transformation, all conch shells end up with a similar form, an arch like a wave. Marc Quinn describes this state of the objects and therefore the sculptures as «an unwitting self-portrait by nature» and the ambiguous forms are meant to represent forces of nature we can not see.

«I think as an artist you should reflect the world you

live in. I mean, that’s what’s important.»

Although these tiny remains of shells are a minuscule part of the physical world, they represent the great natural forces on the planet. In addition to appearing like a wave, the sculptures also appears as something primordial and ambiguous, minded from the depths of time, as a reminder that the forces that shape nature are more powerful than us, and however much we interfere with the planet, will last longer. Quinn references the science of fluid dynamics, both in title and sculptures and looks into an interesting material transformation: the crystallization of movement into form. He touches upon several points in this series: art, human body, DNA, life, death, elemental compositions and surface appearances.

Scientific background

Fluid dynamics is ”the branch of applied science that is concerned with the movement of liquids and gases,” according to the American Heritage Dictionary. Fluid dynamics is the study of fluids and how forces affect them and is a sub-category to fluid mechanic, the branch of applied mathematics dealing with motion and forces producing motion.

Fluid dynamics provide methods for studying several themes, including ocean currents. Some important technological applications of fluid dynamics include rocket engines, wind turbines, oil pipelines (mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines) and air conditioning systems. A sub-discipline of fluid dynamics is hydrodynamics which solely focuses on the study of liquids in motion.

Environmental fluid mechanics focuses on ocean circulation and the physical processes driving waves and currents. Fluid and sediment transport, gas transfer, and wave dynamics are investigated to further our knowledge of ocean physics, erosion and global climate.

The currents in the ocean are affected by wind, water density, earths rotation, and

the tides. Surface current are driven by global wind systems. Deep ocean currents

are the result of ocean water losing its heat to the atmosphere, some of it transforming

to ice and leaving behind salt causing the rest of the water to become saltier and denser, and thereafter sinking to the bottom. This continuous prosess connects surface and deep water currents, in a circulation which takes a 1000 years.

In fluid dynamics, wind waves, or wind-generated waves, are water surface waves that occur on the free surface of the oceans and other bodies (like lakes, rivers, canals, puddles or ponds). They result from the wind blowing over an area of fluid surface. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves on Earth range in size from small ripples, to waves over 30 meters high.

Conservation of linear momentum expresses the fact that a body or system of bodies in motion retains its total momentum, the product of mass and vector velocity, unless an external force is applied to it.

The formation of deep ocean currents: the warm surface water looses its heat, and some of it transform to ice. Salt is left behind, making the rest of the water saltier and denser, and thereafter sinking to the bottom.

Formation of wind waves

Ocean currents: Red represent warm surface currents, and blue represent cold deep ocean currents.

Methods

The making of the Frozen Wave:

Mark Quinn 3D scanned shells he himself found on a beach. An intermediate size model was made and worked on to get all the details, and then 3D scanned. A polystyrene block of the full-size sculpture was created with a digital routing machine. It was then filled and primed. The full-size positive was then cut into pieces and each piece cast in stainless steel. The cast stainless steel panels were then welded together. The assembled sculpture was then extensively polished.

Testing Methods:

When testing out this project, I will look for shells along the shore

of Bergen and pick out a selection that has been eroded by the ocean.

I will look for different type of shells and see how well they transform

into a ‘frozen wave’. As these remains of the shells will be very small,

I will photograph them and blow the picture up to be able to look

properly at texture and form.

Marc Quinn uses a 3D printer to recreate the shells on a larger scale.

As I do not have this equipment available, I will recreate the shells by

hand using white clay which will give the appearance of white concrete,

the material Quinn used on some of his sculptures in this series. I will

then test out materials (ex. steel colour spray) to give the ’waves’ the