Marc Quinn's solo exhibition 'The Toxic Sublime' is now on show at White Cube in Bermondsey. The theme of the show is nature derailed and despoiled. Pictured: Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Linear Momentum), 2015
The centrepiece of Marc Quinn’s new show at the White Cube, Bermondsey edition, is Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Mass), a kind of withered, weathered take on Anish Kapoor’s crowd-pleasing Cloud Gate, the giant, mirrored bean that sits in Chicago’s Millennium Park (Quinn makes clear though that no direct reference is intended. The pieces are of similar material but not intent). Almost 25 feet long and nine feet taIl, Frozen Wave dominates its allotted space. Most visitors on preview night were, inevitably, drawn to its smooth, polished steel side and perhaps even repelled by the creases and wrinkles that face the other way.
The Conservation of Mass is the biggest, and most abstract, of a series of stainless steel Frozen Wave sculptures that are based on conch shells, eroded by seas and oceans until nothing is left but a thin, fragile mineral arc, a little wave. For Quinn they are a kind of accidental self-portrait, relentless and impervious natural forces leaving an odd echo.
The show in its entirety is called 'The Toxic Sublime'. And the theme, as the title suggests, is nature derailed and despoiled. Thirteen Toxic Sublimes appear here, crumpled aluminium sheets with dirty sunsets, mostly unrecognisable as such, bonded on their surfaces. They all start with the same garish sunset, a photograph on canvas. This photograph is sanded and gaffer-taped and then taken out into the streets to be branded by Thames Water manhole covers. These are then applied to the aluminium sheets, which Quinn batters and bends and twists into a sort of seascape.
They look like debris of course, but of what? In some, the ruined sunset comes off as nuclear. There are odd scrawlings which might make these artefacts. They are all toxic Turners, questioning whether we have the right to call anything sublime anymore, given our dumping and disrespect.
For a unique and exclusive take on 'The Toxic Sublime', check out the September issue of Wallpaper*, on sale come 13 August. Quinn has collaborated with us on a truly remarkable – properly sublime, perhaps – fashion shoot, featuring some of the works in the show and his new muse Jenny Bastet.
The Frozen Wave sculptures are based on conch shells, eroded by seas and oceans until nothing is left but a thin, fragile mineral arc, a little wave. Pictured: Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Culture), 2015
For Quinn they are a kind of an accidental self-portrait, relentless and impervious natural forces leaving an odd echo. Pictured: Frozen Wave (The Conservation of Energy), 2015
The Toxic Sublime – B(=_cUo-214!96c, 2015. They are made up of crumpled aluminium sheets with dirty sunsets, mostly unrecognisable. This photograph is sanded and gaffer-taped and then taken out into the streets to be branded by Thames Water manhole covers...
... these are then applied to the aluminium sheets, which Quinn batters and bends and twists into a sort of seascape. Left: The Toxic Sublime – 5$_5,)'^6$3Y]7w, 2015. Right: The Toxic Sublime – O8@=du5JPnf&Zx, 2015
ADDRESS
White Cube
144-152 Bermondsey Street
London, SE1 3TQ
-
Seven up in an ID.Buzz – Volkswagen’s latest all-electric MPV deserves a brighter futureWe see if the VW ID.Buzz is cut out for everyday life by taking a road trip in Volkswagen’s newly extended electric micro-bus
-
Vestre’s neo-brutalist furniture will bring ‘a little madness’ to Paris Fashion WeekBound for Paris Men’s Fashion Week this month, Norwegian furniture brand Vestre reveals a sculptural bench and mirror created with designer Vincent Laine and fashion creative Willy Cartier – the latest outcome of its risk-taking ‘a little madness’ initiative
-
For its latest runway show, Zegna creates a serene oasis in DubaiThe Italian fashion house took over the Dubai Opera for a S/S 2026 show that proposed a lived-in elegance, drawing inspiration from Dubai’s sunbaked landscapes and Zegna’s birthplace of Trivero
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi YatesLondon has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in LondonAlexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life storiesThe artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy
-
Sexual health since 1987: archival LGBTQIA+ posters on show at Studio VoltaireA look back at how grassroots movements emphasised the need for effective sexual health for the LGBTQIA+ community with a host of playful and informative posters, now part of a London exhibition
-
Ten things to see at London Gallery WeekendAs 125 galleries across London take part from 6-8 June 2025, here are ten things not to miss, from David Hockney’s ‘Love’ series to Kayode Ojo’s look at the superficiality of taste
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
See the fruits of Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely's creative and romantic union at Hauser & Wirth SomersetAn intimate exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset explores three decades of a creative partnership
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThe Wallpaper* team enjoyed good art, food and drink this week, attending various exhibition openings and unearthing some of the best pasta and cocktails that London has to offer
