Why would Marc Quinn make a self-portrait out of clay or marble when he's already got the goods?

This piece is made from several pints of the artist’s own blood. Quinn makes a new one every 5 years, so if you can hunt them all down you can actually see his face aging chronologically. I’m sure the accompanying paycheck every time he completes a piece doesn’t hurt either, but maybe I’m just jaded.

While it may not be for the squeamish, it is a pretty fascinating take on self-representation. When frozen, the blood has a color and texture that is both intriguingly beautiful and slightly horrifying.

Speaking of horror, his 1996 sculpture almost melted in Denmark this year when its air conditioned display case malfunctioned. Luckily they had a backup fridge. The National Portrait Gallery says that the piece is designed so that it can be melted (intentionally) and recast when it has to be moved, but it would be a wicked gross mess to clean up if disaster struck!

...Do they have rolling blackouts in England?