Marc Quinn: Making Waves review – an artfully made portrait of a provocative artist

Filmed over a couple of years, this pleasingly straightforward documentary follows artist Marc Quinn (best known for making casts of his head out of his own frozen blood) as he goes about his travels, collaborating with various fabricators, attending parties and openings, meeting other artists and famous people (from Ai Weiwei to Kanye West and Kim Kardashian), but most of all making art. Articulate about the work without being pretentious about it, Quinn clearly has a real passion for his vocation, although the film doesn’t reveal much about his personal life or inner emotional landscape. Often clad in a baseball cap and cool-dad hoodie, with his poker face and stern manner, he comes across like the manager of a successful startup, keeping one eye on the supply chain and another on maintaining the brand’s core values. Director Gerry Fox, also the film’s lone cameraman and producer, is palpable as an unseen presence throughout, asking smart questions. Credit is due to him and editor John Street for carving out a finely detailed portrait from what must have been an unwieldy boulder of raw footage.