JumpDay: Marc Quinn Light Into Life at Kew Gardens
Jump is a full-time remote working company. We organise regular team-bonding afternoons (which we call JumpDay) to keep our company culture thriving. The team gets to hang out together in real life participating in a different event each time.
For the summer JumpDay, we organised a guided tour around the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (AKA Kew Gardens) to see the brand new exhibition – ‘Light Into Life’ – from leading contemporary artist Marc Quinn.
Marc Quinn’s previous work has included ‘Self’, a self-portrait formed by freezing 10 pints of his own blood – and ‘Sphinx’ / ‘Siren’ which were sculptures of the model Kate Moss in yoga poses.
This new exhibition features 17 stunning, giant stainless steel and bronze sculptures placed around the grounds and in the Temperate / Palm Houses, along with a presentation of Quinn’s new and existing work in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery.
As the Kew Gardens website describes – “Quinn worked in close collaboration with Kew scientists and horticulturists to explore more about plants and their incredible forms and shapes, using significant plants from across the Kew collections to inspire his work.”
“The giant sculptures play on the complex relationship between nature and humanity. Some are finished with a mirror effect which blurs the boundaries between the viewer, the sculpture and the landscape, giving every visitor a unique experience of the artwork.”
Our tour guides were full of interesting facts – including revealing the sculptures had to be made in China, as it was the only place able to handle the size of the steel casts. They were also able to talk in great detail about the plant life the sculptures were based on – often with the real plant close to hand for reference.
The Marc Quinn ‘Light Into Life’ exhibition runs until 29th September and we highly recommend a visit.
An added creative bonus as we walked from Kew Gardens to the pub – was to spot one of the new Banksy murals. As seen below – Two GOATs …. and a Banksy!
Some of our previous JumpDays have included a Somatic Movement Class and a Calligraphy Workshop.
