So maybe this is old news in the art world, but have you seen this ridiculously crazy frozen sculpture by British artist Marc Quinn? It’s made entirely from his own blood! Quinn created this sculpture called Self (1991) from ten pints of his own blood that he collected throughout a period of five months.

My excuse for not knowing about this until now is that I was only in elementary school when Self was made. At the time, I was more into art made from fine media like colored pencils and smelly markers.

In 2005, Self was sold to a US collector for £1.5m. You could say that Marc Quinn has some expensive blood (and you could even say that there’s a pretty big price on his head–zing!). Can I argue that Red Cross blood donors are cooler than Marc Quinn? I mean, they generously give up their blood for free!

Should somebody tell Marc Quinn that those 10 pints of artsy blood could have helped save up to 30 people’s lives? To make a blood donation appointment (for life-saving purposes, not artistic) call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or visit http://www.givelife.org/.

Photo: artnet.com