(Marc Quinn. Photo from Mary Boone Gallery.)

Gooooood morning GBD!

A couple things. First, today’s edition of WTF! A special one in the spirit of Halloween.

(Self, 1991 by Marc Quinn. Photo from Mary Boone Gallery.)

The above photo is of a sculpture called Self by British artist Marc Quinn. It is a cast of the artist’s head. Aaaaaand it’s made from the artist’s own blood. No, I am not kidding. Quinn collects 4.5 liters (9.5 pints) of his own blood over a period of 5 months, and then uses the blood to make a new sculpture of his head every 5 years. The blood is frozen, and the sculpture is kept inside a refrigerated unit to prevent it from melting. The photo is of the first Self Quinn made back in 1991. It sold for £1.5 million (about $2.5 million) in 2005. The most current version from 2006 is reportedly worth over £1.5 million (about $1.6 million).

Quinn says he was influenced by the many self-portraits Rembrandt painted throughout his life, in which you can see how the artist changes over time. He plans to continue with Self until he is unable to do so: “The final one will be done after I die, with blood drained out of my body.”  You have to admit, as far as self-portraits go, you can’t get much more literal than using your own body.

So whaddya think? Win, Toss, or Fail for Marc Quinn’s Self?

The second part of this post is a, um, project.  This project has a name, but since G and Jenipher are worried that a certain someone will find out about the project by my…ohhhh…announcing it on the blog, I’ve decided to edit what I posted earlier and delete the name of the project.  Suffice it to say that it’s a surprise and we need your help.  If you’d like to help, email me and I’ll send you instructions.  The deadline for submissions is tomorrow at midnight Eastern Standard Time.  We think it’s going to be pretty cool and we’d love it if you could join us.