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Let's twist again says 18 carat Kate
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent02.10.08
A life-size statue of Kate Moss made entirely of 18-carat gold was unveiled at the British Museum today.
Artist Marc Quinn said he expects the statue - which cost £1.5 million to make, £1 million of which was spent on gold - to fetch £10 million when sold.
Members of the public will be able to see this sculpture, siren, from saturday until January. The statue is hollow and at 50 kilos weighs the same as Moss.
Quinn has described Kate Moss as a "modern day Aphrodite", and the sculpture is being displayed in the museum's Nereid Gallery among statues of Greek beauties including Aphrodite. speaking at today's unveiling, Quinn said: "When i showed Kate the statue she told me she loved it. she really liked the idea and she modelled for me for a day or so."
The gold statue has Moss sitting upright with her legs behind her head entangled with her arms. The Kate effigy is wearing only underwear in the provocative position.
Quinn said: "she didn't pose for me like that. Kate thinks it lifts her into a mythic level. i think she loved it because she understands the difference between her image and her self.
"The sculpture is really about whether we make images or they make us. it's about trying to live up to impossible dreams and immortality. With the financial crash at the minute it is a really interesting time to do this. Why should gold be worth lots and steel not?"
Quinn, who is best known for his statue Alison lapper Pregnant which occupied the fourth plinth in Trafalgar square for a while, also finds himself the subject of an appeal by the National Portrait Gallery.
The gallery is trying to raise £350,000 to buy a self-portrait cast made from the frozen blood of the artist.
The Art fund is kickstarting fundraising with a £100,000 award and the gallery has found £50,000 of its own cash. But it is now seeking public support in its bid to buy the fourth in a series of blood heads, called self, by the 44-year-old.
He has made one head every five years since 1991 - using eight to nine pints of his blood - to document his ageing. The first was shown in Charles saatchi's 1997 sensation exhibition of Young British Artists at the Royal Academy.
The National Portrait Gallery wants to buy the latest, made in 2006, for its contemporary collection. The first three are now in collections overseas and this would be the only version to join a British public gallery.
Director of the National Portrait Gallery, sandy Nairne, said: "Marc Quinn's self is a brilliant and poignant extension to the genre of self-portraiture."
The price of the head - which can be melted, recast and refrozen when it is moved - has been agreed in a special deal with Quinn's gallery White Cube.
