Marc Quinn intrigued visitors to London’s
Trafalgar Square when
his monumental statue of Alison Lapper, a pregnant disabled woman,
was installed on the square’s fourth plinth in 2005.
Quinn’s fascination with our attitudes towards female beauty has
repeatedly led him to ancient Greek art. His new sculpture,
Siren, is of the model Kate Moss and is
made entirely out of gold. Quinn presents Moss as a modern-day
Aphrodite reminding us that Moss's likeness has become as iconic as
the goddesses of the ancient world.
Named after the deadly marine seductresses of Greek mythology,
Siren transfixes the viewer with her
intense gaze. She is positioned next to the Nereid Monument – a temple-like tomb
adorned with sea-nymphs. Her contorted body parallels the crouching
pose of the nearby statue of
Aphrodite (‘Lely’s Venus’).