Thanks to the wonders of council applications, theartsdesk can bring you an exclusive preview of Marc Quinn's new sculptures to be placed outside the White Cube gallery on the grass of Hoxton Square.
Quinn will be putting two colossal orchids (over two metres squared each), cast in bronze and painted white, in Hoxton Square as part of his new show Allanah, Buck, Catman, Chelsea, Michael, Pamela and Thomas (7 May-26 June).
According to the application, submitted to Hackney Council, The Archaeology of Desire is "based upon a naturalistic Phalaenopsis, a genus of the orchid family, which has been rendered in exquisite detail. The fine, papery petals, each distinguished by unique venation, defy the properties of the bronze medium in which they are cast to appear almost weightless and ethereal."
The piece will continue Quinn's work which strives to create the ideal beauty of nature yet, by the grossly artificial means of production, undermines this beauty. Garden, where flowers were cast in silicone, is one such work.
Quinn is one of the best-known YBAs, for such works as Alison Lapper Pregnant on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square and the bust of himself made with his own frozen blood (which melted when Charles Saatchi's freezer broke).
