Working with sculpture, installation and painting, Mark Quinn explores the relationship between art, nature, science, the human body and the perception of beauty. Desire, love, the internet, civil unrest and the climate emergency are all key themes he returns to.

Wilder Shores of Desire takes the form of a large orchid and is part of Quinn’s Flower series. These works explore the concept of idealised natural beauty and aspirations for perfection.

Orchids have a rich history spanning almost 200 million years, and have long been associated with love, fertility and purity. By representing the flower on such a vast scale, this sculpture becomes a powerful force – familiar and attractive, yet strangely unsettling. These works also raise questions about the innocence of beauty, and the human desire to control nature.

Marc Quinn (b.1964) is a leading contemporary artist who first gained critical attention as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs), a group whose work received substantial media attention through their use of unusual and sometimes shocking materials, themes and processes. He has exhibited internationally, in Milan, Rome, Monaco, Venice and Vienna, and recently at Kew Gardens in London.