Humanity has never grown by creating barriers-Lorenzo Quinn
Quinn's monumental sculptures convey a humanist message using hands as a universal language.
Lorenzo Quinn, Support, 2017
Support, 2017 image courtesy of Halcyon Gallery
Reflecting on the two sides of human nature, the creative and the destructive, as well as the capacity for humans to act and make an impact on history and the environment, Quinn hopes the installation, entitled Support, will address the ability for humans to make a change and re-balance the world around them – environmentally, economically, socially.
The hands symbolise tools that can both destroy the world, but also have the capacity to save it. At once, the sculpture has both a noble air as well as an alarming one – the gesture being both gallant in appearing to hold up the building whilst also creating a sense of fear in highlighting the fragility of the building surrounded by water and the ebbing tide. (Creative Boom)
See
Quinn unveiled Building Bridges, an installation consisting of six pairs of hands arching 50 feet over a waterway at the Arsenale former shipyard in Venice’s eastern Castello District. Made from white resin to mimic the white marble seen around Venice, the hands symbolize the need to build bridges and overcome differences.
Each pair is clasped in a different way to highlight six values, including friendship, hope, love, help, faith, and wisdom. The new sculptures were unveiled at a ceremony last week with a performance by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. (AFAR)
Lorenzo Quinn’s Building Bridges by Halcyon Gallery during the Venice Biennale 2019 Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Halcyon Art International
Together, Stainless Steel, Height: 6 metres
The exhibition represents a merging of ancient heritage as well as contemporary art, by both local and international artists, at the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which today survives as a UNESCO world heritage site.
In 2020 the world was hit by a pandemic that froze time and forced us to isolate, during this time, Together was born from the awareness of the longing for the human touch, Together represents the hope to see mankind meet with, and support each other to continue living together.
Say
Some people have criticized Quinn for creating massive hands in multiple sculptures. How do you feel about an artist using the same imagery to communicate their message?
How do the white resin (marble-like) hands tell a different story than the Stainless Steel mesh hands found in Giza?
What role does scale play in his art?
LORENZO QUINN (1966) - PRIMER AMOR / FIRST LOVE - Bronze, 30 cm (11.8 in)
Compare this small sculpture with one of the larger sculptures above. How does the scale affect the message?
Do
Think about ways to symbolize human emotions or values using different hand positions. Now, try again without using any of the obvious cultural ones like peace fingers, thumbs up, and heart using two hands. How might you show compassion, empathy, or love?
Try doing a blind contour of your hand using this tutorial. Use the promo code WEEKLYWONDER.
Watch the installation of Support.
About Lorenzo Quinn
Lorenzo Quinn
Italian, b. 1966
Quinn was born in Rome, Italy, a son of the Mexican-American actor Anthony Quinn and his wife Iolanda (born Jolanda Addolori). Quinn was raised in the United States and Italy and presently lives in Barcelona in Spain. Quinn began practicing art as a painter in the early 1980s when he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in New York City.
Quinn is inspired by such masters as Michelangelo, Bernini, and Rodin. Working from his studio and foundry near Barcelona, he uses the traditional techniques of lost-wax casting to create his sculptures. Exhibited internationally, both Quinn's monumental public art and the smaller, more intimate pieces transmit his passion for capturing eternal values and authentic emotions in his work.
He is best known for expressive recreations of human hands. ‘I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body, he asserts. ‘The hand holds so much power – the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy.’ (lorenzoquinn.com)
Read more: Halcyon Gallery
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