Marc Quinn
Contemporary artist and visionary Marc Quinn has, quite literally, shed blood for his art. Perhaps his most well-known work, Self, creates a cast of his head with ten pints of his own blood, and is remade every five years. Discussing his entrance into the world of art, permanence and impermanence in his work, and his interest in how ‘art makes itself’, Quinn looks over the years 1981-91 for our ‘Decades’ series.
Decades: Episode 04
More episodes in Decades

Grayson Perry (Decades: Episode 05)
We met with potter, painter and tapestry maker Grayson Perry in his London studio to hear how his worked changed from 2005-2015. The artist explained his journey from art to television and why he chooses to work with clay and weaving.

Jack Hill (Decades: Episode 02)
Award-winning Times photographer Jack Hill has captured the conflict and suffering of war for years. In 2014, along with foreign correspondent Anthony Lloyd, Hill was double-crossed, captured and beaten by a rebel gang in northern Syria. Covering 2006-2016 for our ‘Decades’ series, Hill talks through the hardship and beauty in his work.

Lemn Sissay (Decades: EPISODE 09)
In 1984, 18-year-old Lemn Sissay left the care system. In the ten years that followed, he published his first book of poems, performed at the Hacienda and tracked down his birth mother in Gambia. He looks back at the decade when, he says, he entered the world as an artist.

Sam McKnight (Decades: Episode 07)
Celebrated hair stylist Sam McKnight takes us on a fashionable retrospect of the coiffures and culture of the 90s. The ‘hairdresser of all hairdressers’ has styled the likes of Kate Moss, Lady Gaga and notably clipped an iconic look upon the locks of Princess Diana. Here he looks back for whynow’s ‘Decades’ series.