As Brits say: bloody hell!

For 350 grand, British Museum National Portrait Gallery could get its hands on a sculpture known only as "Self", a work made by artist Marc Quinn. The "frozen sculpture" is a replica of the artists head, but that only tells half the story. Whereas sculptors would carve stone or marble or clay to, Quinn used his own blood (ten pints of it to be exact), to create his masterpiece. Quinn puts out such work every five years and said that it takes one year to produce the amount of blood he needs to cretae another version of "Self". Being offered by the artists gallery White Cube to National Portrait Gallery is the one Quinn created in 2006, his latest obra maestra. His first creation was made in 1991, and was bought by a man named Charles Saatchi. The second, released in 1996 was bought by a couple from Texas and the third one went to a Korean museum owner named Kim Chang-il.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE and PHOTO: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=16226