Alison Lapper Pregnant

[Allen Crisp]

If you don't know, this is the new statue put up in Trafalgar Square. This question is not intended to start a discussion about the merits of this piece (but go ahead if you want) but is about the statue being 'by' Marc Quinn.

 

Reports in The Times when it was installed said that Quinn took casts of Alison Lapper's body and sent them to Italian craftsmen who carved the statue. Is this true? If so, in what sense is it 'by' Marc Quinn?

[gen2]

Did Steven Speilberg create Jurassic Park?

He didn't act it, he didn't film it, he had 'technicians' to do it for him.  He had the vision, he oversaw its production, he gets the credit.

Did Damien Hirst catch his shark?  Did he pickle it in formaldehyde?  Did he build its tank? - No, his 'technicians' did.  He had the vision, he oversaw the installation and he took the credit.

Likewise, Mark Quinn had the vision and oversaw its production, so even though 'technicians' carried out the labour, he gets the credit.

[Buenchico]

See this site for information about Marc Quinn and the statue:
http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm?id=B84C0BEB-E6 E7-4EE3-A6DEC6572342A454

Why is it 'by' Marc Quinn? :

1. Marc Quinn had the vision to recognise that a statue of a pregnant, disabled women could be put forward as a work of art to fill the vacant plinth.

2. Marc Quinn selected the method to create the statue.

3. Marc Quinn supervised the production of the 'life cast', including selecting the chosen pose.

4. Marc Quinn determined the scale of the statue in order to make it suitable for its location.

5. Marc Quinn selected the team to work on the statue.

6. Marc Quinn selected the material from which the statue was to be carved.

7. Marc Quinn supervised the Italian craftsmen working on the carving. This is hardly a new idea. I very much doubt that every detail of Michelangelo's David was carved by the artist himself!

8.... 9 .... 10 .... Oh, I'll let someone else suggest all the other reasons!

Chris

[jno]

I hear what you're saying, Buenchico, but I think your argument totters a bit at 7. My guess is that Michelangelo did carve all of David. I'll concede that he might have got assistants to smooth a bit of a leg or something like that, but I'm still betting he did at least 99% himself. Quinn on the other hand seems to have done 0% of the carving himself.

I do think it makes a difference. When experts conclude that a painting was mostly done by Rembrandt's pupils rather than by the master, they knock it off the Rembrandt canon and its value vanishes in a puff of smoke. Authorship is much harder to prove with sculpture, but I think the same line of reasoning applies.

The real answer, Allen, I suspect lies in the modern notion of 'conceptual art', where all you have to do is think of the artwork. Doesn't mattter if someone actually does the work. Personally, I regret this as it downgrades craftsmanship, but it's a widespread and widely acknowledged feature of modern art that it is now created in the brain rather than with the hands.

[jno]

sorry... 'if someone else actually does the work'...

[Allen Crisp]

Thanks for the ideas. I try not to fall into the school of "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" and I certainly wasn't suggesting that there is no merit about it - I think it is 'art' by anybody's standards. It just disappoints me that the people who did the carving, even under Quinn's direction, must have immense skill but don't seem to get any credit.