I'll never betray your blood promise

October 13, 2010 8:01 PM

Sculptures Made of Recycled Blood
posted by cjorgensen (23 comments total)

Eeww.

I miss formaldehyde sharks.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:09 PM on October 13, 2010

"... was once a roommate of Damien Hirst."
posted by vidur at 8:12 PM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I skimmed the post and at first thought it said scriptures made of recycled blood. Worried that the thread would quickly devolve into religion nonsense, I clicked the link, only to be pleasantly surprised. Much more interesting piece than I was expecting. The writeup is a little weird, however. The only thing "recycled" about the work is that the material can be transported from exhibit to exhibit. But it's certainly not environmentally friendly or energy-light to have a sculpture with a 24.7 precisely frozen presentation or it will melt into a pool.
posted by Mizu at 8:17 PM on October 13, 2010

That's just creepy.
posted by biochemist at 8:19 PM on October 13, 2010

well I think it looks cool.
posted by Think_Long at 9:01 PM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

They're a bit sanguine for my liking.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:03 PM on October 13, 2010 [6 favorites]

Thanks for this. The photographs are great, and it's interesting to learn that the story of Saatchi's fridge failure is apocryphal--I'd been telling it for a long time as fact.
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 9:11 PM on October 13, 2010

He could make it kinetic art by letting them melt.
posted by scratch at 9:11 PM on October 13, 2010

Phlebotomy meets phrenology.
posted by benzenedream at 9:12 PM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

I actually prefer the amputee and limbless statues as reinterpretations of our experiences with Greek and Roman sculptures. That they're intended to be in the form that the classical ones are accidentally, while still gorgeous, is a nice nod to the idea of expanding ideas of art and beauty.
posted by klangklangston at 9:15 PM on October 13, 2010

Does an extremely elaborate prank count as art?
posted by 1adam12 at 9:20 PM on October 13, 2010

I don't know...sometimes? What's your point? Is your claim that Quinn's works are (a) "extremely elaborate pranks" and (b) they are not legitimate works of art? Are those independent assertions, or do you believe that (b) follows from (a)?
posted by AkzidenzGrotesk at 9:48 PM on October 13, 2010

I saw the movie Kick Ass for the first time the other week, and noticed that one of these sculptures is outside of the villain's office.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 9:52 PM on October 13, 2010

I like these very much, but I do think the blood should be allowed to congeal on display.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:42 PM on October 13, 2010

Would blood that's been frozen act similarly to fresh blood in that way? I just realize I didn't know about that.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:43 PM on October 13, 2010

AV, I'd imagine that they've added anti-coagulants to the blood to make it easier to work with.
posted by atrazine at 1:40 AM on October 14, 2010

What did they use the blood for the first time around?

Oxygen transport, nutrient delivery, that sort of thing.
posted by TedW at 2:55 AM on October 14, 2010

Well, it's better than semen.
posted by loquacious at 3:21 AM on October 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

“To me, this sculpture came from wanting to push portraiture to an extreme, a representation which not only has the form of the sitter, but is made from the sitter’s flesh."

If I visit whatever gallery has the blood sculptures in 2060 and there aren't a bunch of Marc Quinns loitering around, I'm going to be sorely disappointed.
posted by marakesh at 3:50 AM on October 14, 2010

I am not sure how I feel about this. By that I mean I am both repelled and fascinated. I cannot reconcile the two and come to a conclusion about whether I enjoy this or not.

It is definately interesting and it is definately making me think.
posted by sandraregina at 9:32 AM on October 14, 2010

Each of the human blood sculptures is designed so that it can be melted, recast and refrozen — for example, when they have to be moved for an exhibition. But even displaying the artwork is not simple, as it has be kept in a specially designed freezer to keep the temperature constant — otherwise it would melt and be destroyed.

This kinda spoils it for me. I know there's an artistic reason why he wants it to be a frozen work (metaphor for the transience of life, etc), but I was hoping that he was actually carving a huge gross block of coagulated blood, instead of just making blood popsicles from a mold.
posted by PsychoKick at 10:27 AM on October 14, 2010

When you have a decent volume of blood, say a gallon, in the freezer, it will still turn into a giant clot the second it thaws, very gelatinous and rubbery, sort of a kombucha culture in the midst of a more watery blood. Even if you get in the freezer very quickly and have it frozen for months, it will still want to clot into something that looks a bit like liver.

You would definitely want some kind of anticoagulant. I imagine sodium citrate would be cheap.
posted by adipocere at 2:12 PM on October 14, 2010

this reminds me of basinski's the disintegration loops.
posted by montoia at 8:12 PM on October 15, 2010