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Marc Quinn’s Monumental Flowers Invite Us to Reflect Upon Our Evolving Relationship with Nature

Kate Mothes

Curated Articles

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25 Jul, 2024

This post was originally published on Colossal

“Light into Life (The Evolution of Forms)” (2024). All images © Marc Quinn and RBG Kew, shared with permission

From bronze, chrome, and silicone, Marc Quinn’s larger-than-life botanicals emerge with delicate precision. The exhibition Light into Life at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London continues the artist’s exploration of the boundaries between the natural and artificial, the living and non-living, sexuality, and the passage of time.

Quinn often uses a mirrored effect to literally reflect humanity in nature while blurring the lines between the work and its surroundings. In others, he emphasizes the heft, history, and scale possible with bronze. For example, “Held by Desire (The Dimensions of Freedom)” and “Burning Desire” tap into the metaphorical association of flowers to human biology and anatomy, their titles emphasizing emotional parallels, like the precise tension of a carefully-tended bonsai or the supple petals of a red, sensual orchid with yearning.

Orchids, bonsai, and tropical flowers provide the starting point for Quinn’s remarkable sculptures that emphasize permanence and in a realm that relies on the opposite: changing seasons, weather patterns, and visiting pollinators. He confronts the ephemerality of blossoms and leaves by casting their likenesses at a monumental scale in metal, freezing blooms to preserve the zenith of their beauty, or immersing entire bouquets in silicone oil to indefinitely sustain their vibrancy.

Light into Life continues through September 29. Explore more of the artist’s work on his website.

 

a woman looks up at a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a bonsai inside a Kew Gardens space

“Held by Desire (The Dimensions of Freedom)” (2017-2018). Photo by Ines Stuart-Davidson

a larger-than-life chrome-coated bronze sculpture of an orchid on a lawn with trees and a classical building in the background

“Light into Life (Photosynthetic Form)” (2023)

a monumental bronze sculpture of a red orchid on the lawn of RBG Kew in London

“Burning Desire” (2011)

a floral cooler with two bouquets inside, each suspended inside silicone oil to preserve their freshness

“Eternal Spring (Cultural Evolution)”

a larger-than-life sculpture of an orchid inside a greenhouse, surrounded by tropical plants

“Light into Life (The Release of Oxygen)” (2023)

a bouquet of calla lilies in a simple vase, frozen solid inside of a plexiglass case

“Human Nature” (2024)

a woman stands with her back to us, viewing a larger-than-life outdoor sculpture of a tropical flower with numerous long, spiky petals

“Event Horizon (Sabal)” (2024). Photo by Ines Stuart- Davidson

a mirrored sculpture in a green landscape depicting the outline of a Himalayan Mayapple

“Our Botanic Selves, Himalayan Mayapple”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Marc Quinn’s Monumental Flowers Invite Us to Reflect Upon Our Evolving Relationship with Nature appeared first on Colossal.

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ABB receives EPD status for gearless mill drive ring motor

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ABB has gained Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) status for its Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) ring motor — technology used to drive large grinding mills in the mining industry.

An EPD is a standardised document that provides detailed information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle. Based on a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, the EPD highlights ABB’s commitment to transparency, environmental responsibility and supporting customers in making informed decisions on sustainability in their supply chains.

ABB analysed the environmental impact of a ring motor across its entire life cycle from supply chain and production to usage and end-of-life disposal. The study was conducted for a ring motor of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill with an installed power of 24 MW and was based on a reference service life of 25 years.

“Sustainability is at the core of our purpose at ABB, influencing how we operate and innovate for customers,” said Andrea Quinta, Sustainability Specialist at ABB. “By earning the Environmental Product Declaration for our ring motor, we emphasise our environmental stewardship and industry leadership for this technology. We adhered to the highest standards throughout this process, as we do in the ABB Ring Motor factory every day. This recognition highlights to the mining industry what they are bringing into their own operations when they work with ABB.”

The comprehensive LCA was conducted at ABB’s factory in Bilbao, Spain, and was externally verified and published in accordance with international standards ISO 14025 and ISO 14040/14044. It will remain valid for five years.

The ring motor, a key component of the GMD, is a drive system without any gears where the transmission of the torque between the motor and the mill is done through the magnetic field in the air gap between the motor stator and the motor rotor. It optimises grinding applications in the minerals and mining industries by enabling variable-speed operation, leading to energy and cost savings.

The full EPD for the ABB GMD Ring Motor can be viewed on EPD International.

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The post Bee Hotels Can Help Native Pollinators Recover in the Wake of Climate-Fueled Wildfires: Study appeared first on EcoWatch.

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