Marc Quinn Debuts Print Series Covered in Shattered Windshield Glass (2024)

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What You Need to Know: Austria-based LITO Editions has evolved into one of the leading international printmaking companies, due in large part to its advanced and patented equipment and technology—offering artists the opportunity to innovate within the medium. Recently, LITO Editions announced the debut of a new multi-media print series by British artist Marc Quinn, “NATURENOW,” created in conjunction with Quinn’s exhibition “Life into Light” at Kew Gardens, London. Using a screenshot on his iPhone as a starting point, the limited-edition series of 25 prints is comprised of the printed image as well as several interventions made by Quinn himself, including the addition of overpainting as well as fragments of shattered glass from a windshield. The resulting series is simultaneously consistent and unique, and speaks to the core of Quinn’s creative vision.

About the Artist: Originally from London, British visual artist Marc Quinn first rose to international acclaim as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Alongside contemporaries such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, the YBAs were a loosely associated group of artists that forged a new approach to creating, and more specifically exhibiting, art. Through the creation of surreal imagery—frequently centered on figuration and the human body—as well as nontraditional materials, Quinn’s work pushes the boundaries and expectations of contemporary art. In the early aughts, Quinn was granted the first-ever commission for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, the site for new artist projects, and in 2013, he was the subject of a solo exhibition at Fonxazione Giorgio Cinit as part of the events occurring with the Venice Biennale. His work has been acquired by numerous prestigious public institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, to name just a few.

Why We Like It: Like much of Quinn’s work, the new series invites viewers to question commonly held perceptions of reality and boundaries of understanding. The elongated, rectangular format of NATURE NOW. Thanks to the Insects (Lotus) (2024) simulates the screen ratio of a typical iPhone, as does the base image of a screenshot from the phones photo roll. The pieces of shattered glass, however, engage with multiple understandings of the work in its totality—mimicking on yet another layer of the work phone screen that has been shattered, but also the shattering of the liminal range between where digital and physical reality meet. Focusing on the image of a lotus flower, this dialogue is expanded even further, questioning how much our relationship with nature and the natural world is, in fact, mediated by the technologies we use every day.

Inquire about Marc Quinn’s limited edition Naturenow. Thanks to the Insects (Lotus) (2024).

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