ARNE QUINZE
Intro 08 ‘My Secret Garden — Valencia’ 28 ‘My Secret Garden’ paintings 80 The ‘Lupines’ sculpture series 104 Welcome home 154 ‘My Secret Garden — 12 Months’ paintings 166 New light sculptures 188
Recent works 2018 — 2O19
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Arne Quinze
ARNE QUINZE
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Intro
ARNE QUINZE
Intro
“Arne Quinze keeps on contesting the greyness and dullness of the environments we live in.” After many new installations and exhibitions globally during the past year, 2019 will again be extremely busy for Arne Quinze. Three major openings were scheduled for February: an open-air sculpture exhibition in Valencia, an exhibition in Gstaad in Switzerland, and an exhibition in Brussels. The City of Arts & Sciences site in Valencia, for example, receives 2 million visitors annually. This means that almost 5,500 people walk past the sculptures on the Paseo del Arte every day. This architectural and cultural complex is one of the 12 “treasures of Spain”, was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and opened to the general public in 1998. It is without any doubt
the biggest tourist attraction in Valencia and far beyond. Arne Quinze is one of the few artists in the world lucky enough to have been given the honour of exhibiting at this exceptional location and has installed his Natural Chaos sculptures there. Next, the Patricia Low Gallery in Gstaad is very popular in the art world. This Alpine town is not that big, with only 9000 inhabitants, but on average it has perhaps the highest number of art collectors per capita. With previous exhibitions by Damien Hirst, Peter Halley, Erik Parker, John Chamberlain and others, we can consider this a very exclusive solo show for Arne Quinze.
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ARNE QUINZE
From the 21st of February Arne Quinze will also be exhibiting at his own gallery, Maruani Mercier in Brussels. Since its launch in 1995, the gallery has been focusing on American artists such as Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Gavin Turk, Peter Halley, etc. But in 2017, Arne Quinze was the first Belgian to become one of the resident artists that the gallery represents through its branches in Knokke, Brussels, Paris and art fairs worldwide. For his home audience, Arne Quinze is showing a series of new Lupine sculptures and a masterfully painted 12-panel work called “12 Months”. On receiving these opportunities, Arne Quinze found it important to exhibit new work. This ambition was translated into an enormously busy work schedule, whereby in recent months the artist has been creating almost 24/7. The result is hugely gratifying: we are witnessing the creation of three completely new series of artworks. He has succeeded in completing the preparations with the help of a whole team. The overwhelming reactions after the first press conferences may give a hint of the new advances in Arne Quinze’ career in 2019. Inspired by nature and outraged by our disrespectful treatment of it, in 2019 he will with his creations continue to contest the greyness and dullness of the environments we live in.
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ARNE QUINZE
About
Biography — Arne Quinze Arne Quinze was born in Belgium in 1971 and currently lives and works in Sint-MartensLatem, a town near the Belgian city of Ghent. His early career in the 1980s was as a graffiti artist. He questioned the role of our cities and started his search for cities to become open air museums. His work evolved from Street Art to Public Art with recurring themes as social interaction, urbanisation and diversity. The gigantic wooden construction entitled Uchronia, which he and his team built in the Nevada desert (USA) for the 2006 Burning Man
festival, emphasized his pursuit for culture and nature to coexist. This was followed by numerous sculptures and exhibitions that included both large installations and small paintings and sculptures. At the present time, many of his installations are considered to be landmarks that present a different dynamic for urban development: In Paris, Shanghai, Beirut, Washington D.C., Brussels, Mumbai, São Paolo,… Quinze has been intervening in cities now for over 25 years, and many projects are still lined up to be finalised.
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Portrait of Arne Quinze while working on Twelve Months. November 2018.
ARNE QUINZE
History
Stilt House ‘Shall We Dance’. Steel & bronze. Private collector. Luxemburg, 2014.
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A selection of the most iconic landmarks and exhibitions
ARNE QUINZE
2006 Uchronia, Nevada Desert, USA
2007 Cityscape Brussels, Belgium
2008 The Visitor, Beirut, Lebanon
Once a year, tens of thousands of people gather in the Nevada Black Rock desert to celebrate the Burning Man festival. There, they build up Black Rock City literally from nothing, focussing on the basic ideas of community, art and self-expression. After one week, they again leave the desert without being allowed to leave a single trace of their presence. Arne Quinze had already set up similar constructions in Chicago, Miami and New York, but in 2006, his Nevada construction defied every kind of imagination as far as scale and size is concerned. “Uchronia, a wonder of wood and fastenings that arches overhead in defiance of what a temporary structure is thought to be.”
With 60 kilometers of wooden slats and weighing 72 tons, this robust yet elegant artwork gave a new dimension to this Brussels neighbourhood. “I’m overwhelmed by the reactions of passers-by, of politicians, who saw this structure being built. Only after building up the constructive parts, with the finishing slats, people see it’s real volume. Then the lines become important, it makes the installation organic and aerodynamic. The Cityscape is like a Manta Ray, a giant fish, but moving in a very elegant way.” Arne Quinze says.
The Visitor’ is a 16-meter-high Stilt House, hidden in the midst of the renewed Souk buildings in the centre of Beirut. This large Stilt House has the same features as its smaller editions. Stilt Houses have the appearance of fragile, vulnerable people, who keep on standing and surviving in every context, despite their thin legs. They are proof of man’s incredible flexibility. Arne Quinze was influenced by the reflection of the bright sunlight on the buildings, built in white natural stone. As a result of this reflexion, in the evening, the Stilt House radiates a warm orange glow.
2009 Philips de Pury, London, UK
2009 Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2010 Red Beacon, Shanghai, China
Arne Quinze presented adaptations of Stilthouses, Bidonvilles, new Lakeviews and African Masks. Quinze’s installations look at the formation and organization of cities and civilizations and the contradicting tensions within. Simon de Pury, (Chairman, Phillips de Pury & Company):“I am thrilled that Phillips de Pury is able to host the first ever exhibition of Arne Quinze in London. Over the past few years he has been possessed by a frenetic urge to create his unique and highly personal universe. His works have found their way into distinguished collections on both sides of the Atlantic. His art is merely the extension of the immense generosity and passion with which he conducts his life.”
The Saatchi Gallery is a hugely important London museum for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. Since its opening it has had an influence on art in Britain and far beyond, with around 800.000 visitors a year. The gallery’s aim is to make art more accessible to the mainstream, rather than an exclusive artworld pursuit.
The Natural History Museum and the ‘Red Beacon’ are located in the Jing’An sculpture park. As a result of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai focussing on the theme ‘Better City, Better Life’, the Jing’An district organized an international sculpture project. The ‘Red Beacon’ project therefore also fitted perfectly in this context, i.e. to spread the message and to make the inhabitants of Shanghai acquainted with public art. This new beacon in the city became an important step in the process towards more cultural openness in the city. A beacon in the city, where people can freely meet up and communicate openly.
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A selection of the most iconic landmarks and exhibitions
ARNE QUINZE
2010 Camille, Rouen, France
2011 Louisiana Museum, USA
2011 NY Rock Strangers, USA
In 2010, the French department of Normandy, the birthplace of impressionism, organized a grand festival to honour the ancient masters. In addition to this heritage part, the city of Rouen also decided to organize a festival of contemporary art, called Rouen Impressionnée, to show that ancient and modern works of art can perfectly supplement each other. ‘Camille’ was born on the Boieldieu Bridge as part of this festival and owes its name to the link with impressionism.
The question of how people live in the city or in nature is a constant recurring theme in Arne Quinze’s work. Kjeld Kjeldsen, curator at the Louisiana Museum for Modern Art organised the exhibition about ‘living’: “Suddenly My Home My House My Stilthouse turned out to be a metaphor for everything that the exposition comprises, it is art, it is architecture, it asks questions and makes us think about how we live and organize housing. And so the discussion about what to do in the future starts.”
On Independence Day, 4th of July, the day commemorating America’s independence, Arne Quinze projected a digital sculpture on top of the most well-known symbol of independence, the New York Statue of Liberty. This was the start of a 3-year project. On a worldwide scale, various artists would virtually share their works of art with the general public by means of an ‘augmented reality’ application.
2012 Rock Strangers, Ostend, Belgium
2012 Kunsthal, Rotterdam, NL
2013 Mamac museum, Nice, France
Strange elements appear and contribute to the ‘multi’- society, which Ostend is turning into. The ‘Rock Strangers’ sculpture embodies these ideas. ‘Rock Strangers’ appear where you would least expect them to. Their characteristic electric orange colour provides a sharp contrast to their natural surroundings and accentuates the alienating effect they evoke. People feel attracted to these ‘Rock Strangers’ because they are curious about what is happening in this place.
The exhibition in Kunsthal consisted of two parts: an impressive wooden installation and a space, which Arne Quinze refers to as ‘the temple’. He uses the wooden labyrinth to provide the people with a framework to contemplate on the way they organize their lives in relation to others and to undertake a search for their own inner selves. He regards a ‘secret garden’ as a place where we feel safe and are in control of who and what we allow to enter into this clearly defined zone.
In 1970, Alexander Calder created Stabile-Mobile, a sculpture enthroned on the esplanade of the Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art of Nice (MAMAC). Forty-three years later, the facade of the museum has been renovated, and to make the opening of the new building unforgettable, the director of the institution, Gilbert Perlein, called Arne Quinze to create a sculpture echoing the effect of duality represented in the ephemeral sculpture by Calder.
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A selection of the most iconic landmarks and exhibitions
ARNE QUINZE
2015 The Passenger. Mons, Cultural Capital 2015. The Mons, Belgium PicturePassenger, by Sebastien Nolens.
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2014 Art Masters, StMoritz, Switzerland
2014 Mamac museum, Nice, France
2014 Tomorrowland, Boom, Belgium
St. Moritz Art Masters took place for the first time in the Engadine in 2008. The 10-days arts and culture festival has built a solid reputation. It presents national and international contemporary artists. Arne Quinze had the honour to be invited to present his work in 2014 with a mesmerizing 18 carat golden, 40 kilograms weighing sculpture called “Natural Golden Chaos.”
In 1970, Alexander Calder created Stabile-Mobile, a sculpture enthroned on the esplanade of the Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art of Nice (MAMAC). Forty-three years later, the facade of the museum has been renovated, and to make the opening of the new building unforgettable, the director of the institution, Gilbert Perlein, called Arne Quinze to create a sculpture echoing the effect of duality represented in the ephemeral sculpture by Calder. The exhibition inside the museum featured ‘Natural Chaos’, a series by Arne Quinze.
One World, by the People of Tomorrow is a permanent public installation in the recreational area of De Schorre. The installation is a long bridge, the best symbol to represent a connection between people and bridging differences. The main sculpture is inspired by the Nike of Samotraché sculpture, an image from the Classical Age that represents victory and freedom. The bridge unites all nations and people to show that we are all equal. The bridge is 537 meters long and has a center piece which is 25 meters high. You can imagine the scale of this project is enormous and is a real partnership between people everywhere.
2014 Matarazzo, São Paolo, Brasil
2015 Whispers, Enschede, NL
2015 The Passenger, Mons, Belgium
Arne Quinze joined forces with the team of Alexandre Allard at Cidade Matarazzo to make the city of São Paulo the capital of Diversity. This wooden installation at the former Matarazzo hospital site in São Paolo was the eyecatcher of Feito Por Brasileiros. An exhibition with over 100 artists includig Kenny Scharf, Vik Muniz, Xavier Veilhan, Joana Vasconcelos, among many others. Serving as the forerunner for an amazing architectural project involving architect Jean Nouvel and designer Philippe Starck.
This public art installation by Arne Quinze, called ‘Whispers’, consists of a series of twenty unique steel shapes that are created in his atelier in Luik, Belgium. ‘Whispers’ is part of the renovation of the Koningsplein, as a carless city square as well as part of the ideal of Arne Quinze to change cities into open air museums. Quinze draws the attention to the link between city and nature, which is becoming weaker by the day. This causes our cities to develop in a monotone way, resulting in unpleasant, culturally poor city centers. ’Whispers’ serves as a symbol for the fight to allow more of mother nature into our cities. They form the first sprouts of this victory.
Mons’ year of celebrations to mark its status as Capital of Culture involved the building of this wooden installation by Arne Quinze. The Guardian states: “The most impressive new work of modern art is a sprawling wooden structure in rue de Nimy, called The Passenger, it hovers above a busy shopping street with blood-red struts brushing against the law courts.” This sculpture symbolises the flow of people and their cultural evolution occupying the Rue de Nimy’s since its origine in the 13th century. Functioning as the main entrance towards the Grand Place of Mons, one of the most important commercial trading center to the province of Hainaut during Middle Ages.
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A selection of the most iconic landmarks and exhibitions
ARNE QUINZE
2016 Marta Herford museum, Germany
2017 Jungle Cities, LA, USA
2017 Scarlet, Washington D.C., USA
Whereas the Romantic artists regarded nature above all as a place of quiet contemplation, Quinze uses historical associations with nature (such as “chaos” and “the sublime”) as ideas for images which he transforms into structures between art and nature. Natural Chaos represents a symbolic and physical connection between people and tries to provoke reaction. Nature becomes a playful place for new associations and surprising metamorphoses; the artist transformed his “Natural Chaos Sculptures” into forms of excessive energy which directly responded to the imagination of their viewers and transformed the Marta gallery into a scene of vibrant bizarreness.
Denk Gallery in Los Angeles invited Arne Quinze to turn their space into a new landscape: “The project is a leftover from the 1980s, my youth. The beauty of the jungle is a new world opening up to me and in which I can go to find momentum, colour and diversity. It seems very abstract, but I am applying my years of work on chaos to the jungle theme. A search for a new balance between shape, colour and materiality, and its potential application in public spaces.”
Arne Quinze has created a unique, permanent sculpture in Washington D.C. Natural Chaos Scarlet is a sitespecific 12,5 meter high (41.1 foot) metal art piece, installed along the shores of the Potomac River. Quinze comes to Washington with this project to deliver a clear intent: to activate a discursive exchange and critical engagement with the landscape and to encourage the restoration of balance between culture and nature. The sculpture base is an elegant twisted column that splits up into three branches. This heavy masterwork, weighing 28 tons, was handcrafted in its entirety by the artist and his skilled team and attests to the high level of his metallurgic skill. For the creation of this nest-like composition, the artist took his inspiration from nature.
2017 — 18 Stilt House, Mumbai, India
2018 Belfius Art, Brussels, Belgium
2019 MySecretGarden, Valencia, Spain
This giant of 19m tall is a Natural Chaos Stilt House at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. It’s an ode to nature: its beauty, diversity, gratitude, and power. Our contemporary societies create grim living conditions in monotone cities, and modern culture has lost its connection with nature, much to its detriment. This disconnection also comes at the cost of serious environmental repercussions. Natural Chaos Stilt House is the artist’s indictment of human carelessness.
The Belfius Art Collection is probably the most important Belgian legacy. In 2018 they presented their newly acquired art pieces including this work by Arne Quinze.
The City of Arts & Sciences museum presents a series of six public sculptures by Arne Quinze that enter into dialogue with the powerful architecture of Santiago Calatrava. Each sculpture of the series addresses the rich diversity of forms, structures and colours found in the Plantea. With “My Secret Garden Valencia”, Arne Quinze calls for a more profound dialogue between nature and culture in the development of our modern society. By challenging his public with unconventional sculptures, he encourages a sociocultural conversation that stimulates creativity and embraces diversity.
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A selection of the most iconic landmarks and exhibitions
ARNE QUINZE
Curated by Pop-up Galerie 208 for Viparis
Upcoming Light sculpture, California, USA
Upcoming Location tba
For more upcoming light sculptures, check page 188
Upcoming Stilt house, São Paolo, Brazil
Upcoming Porte de Versailles, Paris, France
Upcoming Seoul, Korea
Upcoming Mourmans, Belgium
Upcoming Museum, Linz, Austria
Upcoming Light sculpture, France
Upcoming Vancouver, Canada
Upcoming Project
Upcoming Private collector
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A selection of upcoming landmarks
ARNE QUINZE
“My Secret Garden Valencia” presents a series of six public sculptures that enter into dialogue with the powerful architecture of Santiago Calatrava. Each sculpture of the series addresses the rich diversity of forms, structures and colours found in the Plantea. With “My Secret Garden Valencia”, Arne Quinze calls for a more profound dialogue between nature and culture in the development of our modern society. By challenging his public with unconventional sculptures, he encourages a sociocultural conversation that stimulates creativity and
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embraces diversity.
ARNE QUINZE
Hello Arne, and thank you for coming to Valencia and to the City of Arts and Sciences. This is your first time in Valencia, and in Spain, for a big exhibition, right? Yes, that’s true. It’s a great pleasure to be here, and in this particular setting. It’s perfectly in tune with my vision of transforming cities into open-air museums. In the museum behind you, everything is always behind closed walls, and it’s always very difficult to draw people into museums. What’s too bad is that only a small percentage of people visit museums, and that’s a pity, because to me, this place is so magical. You have the public domain and you have the museum that is all closed up, but that is so worth discovering. I was particularly drawn to this place because it’s a place of encounters. And I think that art, and culture, can stimulate encounters. We tend to live in these compartmentalised little clubs. There is less and less communication, even with the shift towards the internet, WhatsApp, Facebook and all that, but people still live behind their walls. Look, cities, for me, are mostly made of concrete, which is pretty grey, pretty sober, pretty mono-cultural, but what I’m trying to do here, with my sculptures, is plant these flowers that are shooting up in this concrete world. What was your reason for coming here, and did you make these sculptures especially for this space? What prompted you
Dialogue
Miriam Atienza — Arne Quinze Miriam Atienza, Director of the City of Arts & Sciences Museum, and Arne Quinze have a talk about the new sculptures in Valencia.
Sketch of a Lupine. Sint-Martens-Latem, 2018.
First, my overriding personal goal is to transform cities into open-air museums, and my second goal is to create cities that have the same diversity as nature, and the same balance, because all of my work is based on nature. When you look at the space here, which is a very unique space, Calatrava has created a city within a city, and he has also created a space conducive to encounters. And that is what was enormously attractive to me, with people increasingly living cooped up inside, there is less and less physical contact, despite the huge amount of contact through social media, but I believe that we are still living in the heritage of the great visionaries, or non-visionaries, who built cities in the 80s and 90s. The thing is that cities have become very inhuman, and places like this make cities more human, because people meet each other. And I believe that my work, what drives me in fact, is to render the beauty of nature without actually rendering nature itself. My work is based on beauty, on the optimistic side of life, I am very optimistic, that’s why I use these colours. We can’t avoid the fact that climate change is happening, the waters are rising but then you have droughts, the planet is dying. With climate change, we always show the negative side. I try to show people the beauty of nature so that they realise that we must do everything possible to
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to come? It’s really a pleasure to have you with us.
ARNE QUINZE
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Early paper study of a Lupine for Valencia. Sint-Martens-Latem, June 2018.
I would like to know what you
set out to do here. You’ve created different types of sculptures. How did you decide what you were going to do here?
but they are made of aluminium, and to create them we used a big crane to bend them, and you feel the power that they exude.
When I came here, it brought back a memory of a long trip to Iceland. When you travel across Iceland, there are all these volcanic mountains, and they’re black. For days and days we travelled across this black landscape, and the first signs of life that we saw were these little flowers, pushing up through the black lava. When I was here it was the opposite; everything is white, everything is beautiful, everything is clean-cut, and I thought about my flowers, I wanted to make organic flowers bloom here, colourful but nevertheless with a certain power. After all, nature has enormous power, and I wanted people to see, through my sculptures, the duality of nature, its fragility and its extreme power. When you look at the sculptures they could almost be made of paper,
That was my reaction, there is this enormous power, and at the same time it is delicate and there is colour everywhere. In my opinion, the contrast you’ve achieved through the colour works really well. I think that nature has colours for a reason. You see it in fruit; they are full of attractive colours so that we’re tempted to eat them. In nature, there are colours that are made to attract, but also colours made to frighten. The beauty that we see among the animals, the play of colours, is very interesting, and it’s something we tend to forget. I believe that we need colours in cities. Cities have become very monotone, and wherever there is colour, people smile a little more, they feel more relaxed. And I believe that it’s important to encourage this way
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preserve it. Our cities are built in such an inhuman way that public spaces have become concrete; they are ugly. My big dream is to transform these public domains, by drawing on culture and on nature. Since I was born in 1971, man has destroyed more than 30% of the flora and fauna, which is why it’s so important to show the beauty of nature through the beauty of my sculptures. That idea runs through my work. Often, when we speak of cities or climate change, we adopt a negative perspective. For me it’s the opposite; I want to show the positive side through my forms, through colours, so that people will see that nature has such beauty that we must preserve it, that we must do something. I believe that if we change our public spaces into better places, more human, more natural places, we will bring out the humanity of cities. I think that’s really important for the future.
ARNE QUINZE
of thinking; I hope that visitors, when they see these installations, think along those lines. That is the little seed that I am planting in their heads, and I hope that a lot of ideas will grow from that seed. Here, we are in a public space, and yet there are so many visitors
who come here who often don’t even venture into the museums; they just wander about. I think that it’s important to provide free access to things on the outside, to draw people’s attention so that they go inside the museums. And I believe that, thanks to what you are doing, we can draw visitors’ attention.
It is so important because it really is too bad that only a small percentage of people visit museums and yet culture is one of the best ways of broadening our minds. And I believe that without this education, we’re gearing ourselves up for a very dull life, a negative kind of existence. We need this in our
Early paper study of a lupine. Sint-Martens-Latem, May 2018.
Paper study for Ramossisima. Sint-Martens-Latem, August 2018.
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Paper study of Bellendeni. Sint-Martens-Latem, August 2018.
education, and museums have a very important role to play. But museums are always hidden behind these four big walls and these little doors. And sometimes it’s difficult to push open those doors. My great mission in life is to transform public spaces into cultural spaces, where we can exchange ideas, even if
the artist isn’t your cup of tea. We artists aren’t here to make sculptures that everyone likes, but from such time as it triggers a conversation, a discussion, we’ve achieved our mission. I hope that, through these installations that we’ve placed here, people will be more interested in coming to see what’s happening inside.
I think that this is one of the duties of museums, to break out of their walls, to go back into the cities. They shouldn’t wait for the people to come to them, but rather they themselves have to go out and find the people; they are the ones who should be injecting culture into cities. That is so important.
We have the museum of science, which is interactive, and if you grab the attention of someone who goes on to touch something, he will experiment with that thing. With sculptures as well, you can provoke emotions - if, in the museum of science, you can attract attention in that way, with art, you can trigger this reaction
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Paper study of Gawleri. Sint-Martens-Latem, August 2018.
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in the person as well. I got the inspiration to get where I am today when I was fifteen years old. I lived in Brussels, which in the 80s was such a grey and sad city, and they had built a new underground station. I remember going into the tunnels on the day and night before they opened the underground station. There was the train, the carriages, all nice and shiny and new, but very grey. I painted the whole thing, from beginning to end, with plenty of colour. The next day, the day of the opening, the train came into the station. All the officials were there, the ministers, the mayor, the politicians, to cut the ribbon, and there was the train, full of colours. A lot of people said it was pretty, and there was something jolly about it. Others said it was horrible, that it was vandalism, a massacre. I was there in the crowd, with my hands still covered in paint, hidden in my pockets. There was something magical about what happened there, the people who loved it and who didn’t love it at all were all talking to each
other, all communicating. There was an energy going through there. And when I saw that, I told myself, that is what I want to do, I’m going to make people communicate through art. And after my graffiti, I very quickly came to understand that I wanted to change public spaces with my big sculptures, and if that creates an emotion, if it draws people in, if they talk to each other, then we, the creators, have won. How did you become an artist? Because of things like that, or were you born this way? I was born like this. Being an artist isn’t a choice, you either are one or you’re not, it’s something that flows in your veins, it’s something that is there, that is present, that we cannot escape, and that has to come out. With some, it comes out more than others, but for me, it’s my life, my passion. I was wondering whether the artist is an instrument to bring out the art that people need at a certain moment, at this point in time, because each era has a different idea of art, or it is just a question of the artist doing what he likes, which has nothing to do with what is going on around him. What’s your take on that? I believe that there are two things. First of all, I make art because I have it under my skin, and it has to come out. Secondly, I am truly a child of the planet. My great passion is nature, my flowers; around my house
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Coloured paper study. Sint-Martens-Latem, December 2018.
ARNE QUINZE
Portrait of Arne Quinze while working on the new sculptures for Valencia. Antwerp, December 2018.
and dramatic steps, we will remember them as the politicians that destroyed the planet. I try to create a positive dialogue through this work; that is my personal mission. If we have no more planet, there won’t be any more point making art. You could say that you are an instrument to bring out what we need right now.
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I’ve planted more than 6,000 flowers and plants, just to study them to know how to create the sculptures that I make today, but I also have to send a message to politicians with my work. I hope that today’s politicians won’t go down in history as the ones that destroyed the planet. With my art, I want to show the beauty of nature, to make them aware that if they don’t take very concrete
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Assembling according to plans and maquettes. Deinze, December 2018.
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Assembling the aluminium parts before welding them together. Deinze, December 2018.
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I do see myself as an instrument, but I miss the romantic side of cities. Before, romanticism was a good thing, it was pretty, it was joyous, it was romantic. And today we hardly have any more of this romance. Everything has become superficial. I believe we need romanticism in our lives. We need this nature, this balance. Active romanticism, not passive? Active romanticism. I believe that I am there to fight, absolutely! In a certain sense I am a romantic: the quest for nature in painting takes me a bit closer to the ideas of Romanticism, which in our contemporary towns and cities have been completely lost. What is more, the romanticists turned against industry, which was making its appearance at that time, and also technology
and the cities. Places that had not yet been ‘defiled’ were called ‘nature’, and that’s what they glorified. For example, like me the romanticists also very much appreciated the ‘wilderness’, because they supposed that that was where the purest, most authentic form of nature was to be found. They also assumed there was a unity between man and nature. They found this unity in the countryside. I am also looking for that sort of harmony, but for me the contrast doesn’t have to be so sharp. We need green and open space and living in towns and cities is actually good for that. I believe we can solve a lot in cities if we apply the right dose of Romanticism, greenery and culture. Integration would go considerably more smoothly and the cities would become substantially more human. Every
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Arne Quinze with one of the white coated sculptures for Valencia. Deinze, December 2018.
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beautiful place automatically attracts beauty and is more easily maintained and brings people together. Public spaces should be better and more agreeable than our own living rooms, but our towns and cities are still a million miles from achieving that. It is striking how the colours of the sculptures interact with their organic forms. They enter into dialogue with their surroundings and are clearly predestined to be located here. Does colour play the same role in your paintings? There isn’t really any boundary between my paintings and my sculptures. Despite my sympathy for the ideas behind the art of Romanticism, it is still too clearly delineated for me and in my paintings it is the impressionists who attract me more. They are a great example to me. In terms of technique, the impressionists were most striking for their handling of contrast. They painted with colour and light. It was not a question of the reality, but of the impression made on them by the subject they were painting. They devoted particular attention to the various shades of changing light and the interplay of colour values. They often used complementary tones on a finely gradated scale from light to dark. Forms and outlines were actually subordinate to the impression. Claude Monet, Cézanne, PierreAuguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and all the rest. They usually painted more or less ordinary scenes, but what mainly attracts
my attention are the landscapes and nature. The colours of my sculptures are just as much my impression of nature as their forms are. But abstract. And in fact the sculptures lean slightly more towards Surrealism. The surrealist artists also depicted an impression or a feeling, but rather of something imaginary or something abstract. After all, Surrealism didn’t originate in painting, but in the literary world. Putting a way of thinking down on paper, without restriction and free from moral values. In painting, these fantasies were often rendered in a hyper-realistic manner; you only have to think of Magritte, who combined completely incompatible or, at the very least, unexpected images. But it was equally possible for the works to be entirely abstract, as in the case of Hans Arp. You also see abstraction in the work of Joan Miró; it’s recognisable, but definitely not realistic. In my imagination I see absolute beauty. And I try to convey it. Surrealists also try as far as possible to give their imagination free rein. For example, they paint dream images, things that don’t exist. Automatic drawing is in fact also a way of showing your fantasies. Surrealism is not an aesthetic school or style, and you can’t see any real uniformity in all the works, whereas you do among the impressionists. It was an intellectual movement, an idea that led to what is called form I can identify with.
So as far as my sculptures are concerned, I find Surrealism very appealing. It represents absolute freedom. I like making things that lead me to absolute freedom. Once again, a part of it is extremely abstract and part of the image has to be filled in by the viewer’s imagination. From Max Ernst to Miro to Willem de Kooning, who was ultimately counted among the ‘abstract impressionists’. They are my great mentors. When you set out to make them, do you have an idea of how they’re going to turn out, or is it a gradual evolution? How does the process of the sculptures’ creation work? My work is an evolution that never stops. It evolves constantly, but what you see behind us is a study that was made over years to get to this point. Beforehand, I do a lot of research through my plants, through the architecture and chemistry of plants, through their energy, through the physical side. Nature is a life with extremes that take off in every direction. When you study that, you step into a world that is absolutely marvellous. But before getting to that point, there is a lot of drawing, a lot of mock-ups, a long search that helps me to create what you see before you here.
Arne Quinze while painting. Deinze, December 2018.
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‘I like making things that lead me to absolute freedom.’
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Painting the sculptures. Deinze, December 2018.
You decide whether you will make it out of wood, or steel, or aluminium. For the production process, you have an idea, but afterwards it must be transformed, must be created.
Nina & Arne at work. Deinze, December 2018.
I choose aluminium and steel as materials because they allow me to create forms, toys, with this brute force when I deform them, when I fold them, when I weld them, when I cut them. For me these are materials that help me to translate what I have in mind. Even before knowing how to do that, I have 25 years of experience to draw on, I’ve played with materials and haven’t stopped evolving. Experience helps me, but it’s above all the possibility of opening my eyes, of looking around me, of observing and absorbing the things that go on around me.
Just like with climate change, there are always things that we do that are bad for the earth and for nature. I believe that we are the only living species that gives nothing, that only takes. We take, and leave nothing in place of what we take. We are busy consuming the planet, and we are close to passing the limit of consumption. I believe that if we continue on this path we will end up destroying ourselves. But it’s refreshing to see the mentality of the young, to see that things
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Do you think that life belongs to us, or is it more us who belong to life? That we are part of the earth, but does the earth belong to us?
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View on the Lake of the Hemispheric during installation. Valencia, February 2019.
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During the installation of the sculptures at the City of Arts and Sciences Museum.Valencia, February 2019.
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are starting to change. So I hope that the youth are our future. I have a pretty negative vision, but I remain positive nonetheless; I believe that, at a given moment, the planet will do a big clean-up, and those who want to survive will survive. That is already happening today, it is already going on, and I believe that we are only at the beginning of the problems. At the beginning of the transformation of the planet. I remain optimistic when I hear children talk. They are much more concerned with the planet than we are. Our generation, and that of our parents, we were not aware. Today it is so important that we become aware, and I hope that the next generation will save us. To wrap up, I hope that this will be a success, and I hope that we will succeed in knowing and seeing that people can change, and I also hope that you will be satisfied. Was it a challenge for you to do this exhibition? Was it a challenge to come here? What did it mean for you?
It was a challenge, because normally I tend to create largescale installations, and here it was the opposite because there is an enormous competition in this environment, just look at Calatrava’s work, which is superb, and exudes an incredible power. The challenge was not to pit myself against this architectural power, but rather to play with it. I believe that just by creating something this small, and my sculptures aren’t particularly small, they are six or seven metres high, I believe that there is a balance with their environment. It’s the same with flowers. Just like a tree with flowers blossoming on it, the flowers are what make the tree more beautiful, and I hope that my flowers enhance the architecture that we see behind us. Finally, what kind of reaction do you want to see in a passer-by who comes across your sculptures. One thing: a smile.
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Arne Quinze & Miriam Atienza with Bellendenii, one of the sculptures at the City of Arts & Sciences.
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For the new series of Lupine artworks, nature was once again Arne Quinze’s main inspiration. These sculptures are distillations of nature that appear to have grown organically as a result of continuous attractive and repulsive impulses with the aim of preserving a balance, albeit delicate. At first sight they may
My Secret Garden — Valencia
perhaps appear fragile, but they are nevertheless capable of withstanding this harsh dialogue. Their colour palette is broad and inspired by the abundance of tints Quinze finds in his wild flower garden. This exposes the contrast between the diversity of nature and the encroaching monotony of our often grey cities. Through his works, Arne Quinze calls on the viewer to protect or at least appreciate what nature has to offer. The most successful cities of the future will in fact seamlessly interweave culture and nature. By locating his artworks in cities, Arne Quinze is attempting to initiate a dialogue on this vital balance. He is for this reason delighted that the city of Valencia has invited him to install his works at this marvellous location – a true open-air museum – and is looking forward to the interaction between the city and his new works. Diversity In each of Arne Quinze’s recent works we encounter a seemingly chaotic confrontation between individual elements that form an integral part of a biotope that is created in laboratory conditions and is multiplied organically. The variety of colour and form is as wide as the viewer’s imagination. The artist hereby depicts a society as a coherent and intact ecosystem, a sampling of nature, which is his chief
inspiration. In this way, the sculptures and installations call for a retention of diversity and pluralism, and for experiment and cross-fertilisation. This is a clear indictment of the present trend towards monocultures and soured relations. Bringing people back together again: according to Quinze, this should be the ultimate objective of public art. After an initial surprising impression, a sculpture is able to refine the threshold of acceptance for the passer-by, by flying in the face of the norm – norms lead only to monotonous grey cities. Just as in the artworks, and just as in nature, cities should aim for a symbiosis of numerous organisms, which in their turn fuel conversation and consequently the conservation of their future. In fact the artist quite literally challenges monocultures. With his garden as a scale model, an explosion of life with the rampant splendour of flowers, the pursuit of variation and diversity is both a statement and a leitmotiv that runs through his work. The fact that we have already destroyed 30% of existing flora and fauna since Quinze’s birth in 1971 is abhorrent to him. It is in everyone’s interest to protect and restore ecosystems. Gawleri in the late afternoon. Valencia, February 2019.
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Gawleri at golden hour. Valencia, February 2019.
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Laccida. The night before the opening of the exhibition.Valencia, February 2019.
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Bellendenii at the Paseo Del Arte, in front of the Hemispheric by Santiago Calatrava. Valencia, February 2019.
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Ramosissima and Macronyx, bathing in the Lake of the Hemispheric. Valencia, February 2019.
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Initiative and curation
Arne Quinze is honoured to be invited by president Cris GabarrĂłn and curator Juan GarcĂa Sandoval of The Gabarron Foundation to exhibit his work in Valencia. The Gabarron Foundation and the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia have been collaborating since 2010 to create this wonderful museum space, dedicated to sculptural art: the Umbracle, an open artistic space - designed by world renowned architect Santiago Calatrava - and an extension of the museum itself, known by many as the Paseo del Arte. It was with deep respect that Quinze accepted their invitation and created six sculptures for this exhibition.
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Collina. Picture taken by anonymous passerby. City of Arts & Sciences, February 2019.
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Gawleri Arne Quinze — 2019
Bellendenii Arne Quinze — 2019
Laccida Arne Quinze — 2019
Acrylic on aluminium 340x230x250cm (HxLxW) approx. 500kg
Acrylic on aluminium 350x235x190cm (HxLxW) approx. 450kg
Acrylic on aluminium 400x235x220cm (HxLxW) approx. 650kg
Macronyx Arne Quinze — 2019
Ramosissima Arne Quinze — 2019
Acrylic on aluminium 325x270x200cm (HxLxW) approx. 400kg
Acrylic on aluminium 530x370x210cm (HxLxW) approx. 1200kg
Acrylic on aluminium 500x340x210cm (HxLxW) approx.1350kg
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Collina Arne Quinze — 2019
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Arne Quinze explicitly wishes to thank
Cris Gabarrรณn and Juan Garcia Sandoval of the Gabarron Foundation Enrique Vidal, General Manager, and Miriam Atienza, Contents Director of the City Of Arts & Sciences museum Franรงois Fornieri, private collector
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Maruani Mercier gallery
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My Secret Garden PAGE 81
Paintings
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Inspired by his garden, Arne Quinze depicts nature’s vivacity, diversity, and beauty in a mayor series of paintings called
“My Secret Garden”
Arne Quinze in his atelier working on a series of ‘My Secret Garden’ paintings.
“The ultimate challenge is to engage the viewers to discover their own secret garden” “My Secret garden” is an exuberant and explosive series, full of dynamics, colour, diversity and composition spread over several canvases. Enormous canvases of expressive and explosive colour, and smaller canvases hinting at a poetic and almost feminine romanticism. With his “My Secret Garden” series, Arne Quinze lays himself bare to the viewer. He demonstrates the search, the commitment and the fight that led him to the perfect Secret Garden. “My Secret Garden” is a very personal series, and perhaps for that very reason, most can identify with it. The ultimate challenge is to engage viewers to look into their own inner selves and discover their own Secret Garden.
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The development of the series of “My Secret Garden” paintings and sculptures was preceded by a great quest. Arne Quinze started this project around 6 years ago by planting a flower meadow of more than 6000 plants and flowers around his house, achieving a complete metamorphosis in order to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of nature. How do plants grow, develop and behave? How do they evolve through the seasons? What is the symbiotic relationship between different plants? And above all, how do they influence us? Quinze worked, arranged and researched his own garden in an almost romantic way, following in the footsteps of the great impressionist Monet in order to arrive at a moment of knowledge and insight, thus allowing him to paint freely and without constraints.
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My Secret Garden Joie De Vivre & Floribunda — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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My Secret Garden Little Angel II & I — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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My Secret Garden — l’Eclaireur, Paris, Arne Quinze 2019 My Secret Garden Nuit De Chine — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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The fact that we have already destroyed 30% of existing flora and fauna since my birth in 1971 is abhorrent.
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It is in everyone’s interest to protect and restore ecosystems.
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My Secret Garden Centifolia & Lupine Angustifolius — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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Lupine 18112, My Secret Garden Little Angel II & I — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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My Secret Garden Rose Bulb & Lavender Dream, Papilionoidae — Patricia Low Contemporary. Gstaad, Switzerland, 2019.
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My Secret Garden Blanc Double de Coubert I & II. 2019.
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My Secret Garden Beautiful Dreamer & Double Delight. 2019.
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My Secret Garden Akaroa. 2019.
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My Secret Garden — Atelier Deinze, 2019
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Lupines
A series of sculptures depicting the evolutionary force of nature
“My Secret Garden Sculptures” is a new series of medium-sized sculptures that embodies Arne Quinze’s research on the diversity of nature. With this series the artist focuses on different questions in the evolution of anthropology through botany. The unbridled evolutionary force of plants
to develop into a broad spectrum of diverse forms, structures and colours are the basis for Arne Quinze’s visual storytelling. “My Secret Garden — Lupines” series is the artists attempt to capture the power of nature and to shift our focus back to the importance of our relationship with nature.
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It was Arne Quinze’s observations in his garden, which from the start of spring is carpeted with hundreds of different varieties of flowers, including the Lupinae, that led him to these formal studies: a whole series of paper models preceded the creation of the ‘Lupines’ and subsequently they also inspired four of the much larger sculptures that were to end up in Valencia. These sculptures look as if they had been shaped by nature under the influence of evolution. Organic and fragile, yet also sturdy and adaptable to external influences. With the same caution as with the paper studies, the next step was the laser-cutting, working and transformation of aluminium sheets to achieve the same formal idiom as the paper models. The aluminium components were then welded together and given a white undercoat to make them easy to finish with paint. The first four completed sculptures – Lupine, Persicaria, Lobelia and
African Iris – were immediately given a place in Quinze’s home, where they remained until their departure for the exhibitions in Gstaad and Brussels. During these three short months their worth became clear. They summon up an emotion and release something inside the viewer. They are modest and restrained, yet they themselves initiate the dialogue and all you have to do is let yourself be led and seduced. And after that you repeatedly rediscover them in different ways, from different angles. In between the preparation and installation of the sculptures in Valencia and Gstaad, Arne Quinze continued without interruption to create new Lupines. It was an experimental phase during which he played with colour, form and format. The result is largely to be seen in his solo exhibition in Brussels from February to April 2019, at the Maruani Mercier gallery, which represents Arne Quinze internationally.
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The Chatelain — My Secret Garden Lupines, 203x60x60cm. 2019.
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Avalune — My Secret Garden Lupines,191x59x59cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Opening Night of the “ New Sculptures: Lupines “ exhibition at Maruani Mercier. Brussels, February 2019.
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Various Lupines. Arne Quinze, 2019.
Russel — My Secret Garden Lupines, 117x40x35cm, French oak base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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African Iris — My Secret Garden Lupines, 230x64x72cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Bluebonnet — My Secret Garden Lupines, 74x82x68cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
Pilosus — My Secret Garden Lupines 153x40x29cm, marble base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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FAQ 3 Questions about the Lupines series The Lupines series assumes many different forms. How do they come about? The Lupines are the expression of a long quest in my garden. The colours, forms, versions and tints are as varied as the range of flowers in my garden. What do you want to achieve with this series? It is the start of a dialogue by which to bring man and nature closer together. I am aiming for an utopian model where nature and culture are seamlessly interwoven. To bring the organic, the variety, the colours, the openness, the tolerance back among the people. How do the larger sculptures in Valencia differ from the Lupines? The sculptures in Valencia are the result of the same observations, but they evolved differently. They were made to enter specifically into conversation with that city, with Calatrava’s particular style of architecture. The smaller Lupines weren’t made to fit into one particular setting.
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Arroyo — My Secret Garden Lupines, 217x120x118cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Nootka — My Secret Garden Lupines 140x65x66cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Angustifolius — My Secret Garden Lupines, 135x60x60cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Sulphur — My Secret Garden Lupines, 197x72x56cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Lupine — My Secret Garden Lupines, 230x76x73cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Arne Quinze at work, finishing several Sculptures. Atelier Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Opening Night of the “ New Sculptures: Lupines “ exhibition at Maruani Mercier. Brussels, February 2019.
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Lulu — My Secret Garden Lupines, 161x34x33cm, marble base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Papilionoidae — My Secret Garden Lupines, 110x70x50cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Lobelia — My Secret Garden Lupines, 220x102x80cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Desert Sun — My Secret Garden Lupines, 174x66x78cm, marble base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Terracotta — My Secret Garden Lupines, 95x57x37cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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“The unbridled evolutionary force of plants to develop into a broad spectrum of diverse forms, structures and colours are the basis for my work.�
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Argenteus (172x83x77cm) & Polar Princess (143x65x71cm) — My Secret Garden Lupines. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Polyphyllus — My Secret Garden Lupines, 99x60x49cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Saxifragales — My Secret Garden Lupines, 238x152x151cm. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Persicaria — My Secret Garden Lupines, 200x85x85cm, French oak base. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Ludmilla — My Secret Garden Lupines, 194x95x73cm, French oak base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Arcticus — My Secret Garden Lupines, 180x84x59cm, travertine base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Argenteus — My Secret Garden Lupines, 172x83x77. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Salmon Star — My Secret Garden Lupines 167x29x28cm, Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Morello Cherry — My Secret Garden Lupines 161x36x34cm, Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Alpine — My Secret Garden Lupines, 164x70x76cm marble base. Arne Quinze, 2019.
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Arne Quinze surrounded by his Lupines. Maruani Mercier Gallery, February 2019.
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Welcome home PAGE 155
Arne Quinze welcomes you to his house, where a big part of the ideation & creation takes place.
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Walking through Arne Quinze’s house and studio is an overwhelming experience of discovering art, sketches, pictures, maquettes, paper studies, and books, collected through the years. The power of nature has to be able to burst in. It is a creative hub, a laboratory of variety.
Arne Quinze working on a new Light Sculpture maquette. Atelier Arne Quinze, 2018.
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My Secret Garden Mosaic, an outdoor artwork in Arne Quinze’s priv ate garden. 2018.
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It was Arne Quinze’s observations in his garden, which from the start of spring is carpeted with hundreds of different varieties of flowers, that led him to the My Secret Garden Paintings and Lupines. A whole series of paper models preceded the creation of the ‘Lupines’ and subsequently they also inspired four of the much larger sculptures that were to end up in Valencia.
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“I observe, study and let myself be inspired by everything I’ve collected.”
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All sorts of things happen in the studio where I live. I gather ideas, I work on models, I find calmness there, my team works there, there is activity. My garden surrounds the house and brings nature within easy reach. I observe, study and let myself be inspired by daily changes, the metamorphoses it undergoes.
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Twelve Months Paintings A 12-piece ‘My Secret Garden’ painting and real magnum opus inspired by the changes that nature confronts us with through the seasons.
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“There is constant evolution, I just won’t stop.” Arne Quinze
Would you call this the climax of the series? I would prefer to call it an evolution to which there may be a sequel. Painting this series is a process of constant self-discovery and following your instinct without compromise. When faced with a blank canvas you are completely exposed. You must not be afraid of failure, but every brushstroke has to be right. Painting flowers was always going to be a risk, because it has been done so often before. But I think that as a result of the extended studies over many years I have nevertheless been able to inject my own identity into them. I continue to discover myself and still hope to learn a lot more and thereby be able to evolve. There is constant evolution, I just won’t stop!
Does the shape of the canvases have anything to do with that? Yes, it does. I was walking on the Champ de Mars in Paris when I saw the nature, the surroundings, the trees, reflected in the surface of the ponds and fountains. That led me to this Renaissance-style shape. My canvas had to be a mirror. A painting that drags you into your deepest, innermost self so that you yourself give substance to that piece of nature inside you. That is the feeling I wanted to depict on the canvas. So is there a difference between the dark months and the more colourful summer months? In my view the winter and the summer have exactly the same amount of colour. Black is a colour too. The palette is actually as varied and precise a rendering of the feeling that I experience in my garden through the seasons. For me, each panel is an explosion of colour. Just like nature itself.
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This work is part of the series ‘My Secret Garden’. How did you come to think of a painting in twelve parts? ‘The Twelve Months’ is a study of light and the changes nature undergoes in the course of the year. It was precisely because I spent so much time in my garden that I was confronted with this and I wanted to capture the feeling. But my work remains largely abstract, as I want the viewer to use his own imagination.
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January, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Febuary, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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March, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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April, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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May, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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June, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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July, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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August, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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September, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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October, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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November, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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December, My Secret Garden, Twelve Months, 300x140cm. Arne Quinze, 2018.
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Upcoming Light Sculptures After several scale model studies and virtual simulations for metal structures with LED lights, Arne Quinze is ready to start building the first one in reality.
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In the meantime, Arne Quinze and his team are working on five projects in which light will play an even more prominent part. Several light sources are built into strategic positions in the structure and will be an integral part of the artwork. By the addition of LED light, colour and colour filters, these structures will be perceived by the viewer in different ways and will evolve over time. Even if you view them from exactly the same position, your perspective will change.
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Light will in the future play an increasingly important role in Arne Quinze’s public artworks. It is of course true that the presence or absence of light, the angle of light, transparency, reflection and refraction have already played a leading part in each of the large structures that Quinze has built, both in wood and metal. It is only due to light that the variation in degree of openness and the combination of a range of textures results in the desired effect. They are structures that grew organically, and the whole entity is a ‘structured chaos’ such as we see only in nature. Trees’ roof of foliage, plants that try to capture light, opening their petals as the first sunlight appears. Light is a necessity for all forms of life: it is a basic element in both nature and the work of Arne Quinze.
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How did you get the idea of working with light? Proposal. California, USA.
All sorts of things happen in the studio where I live. I gather ideas, I work on models, I find calmness there, my team works there, there is activity. My garden surrounds the house and brings nature within easy reach. I observe, study and let myself be inspired by daily changes, the metamorphoses it undergoes. The power of nature has to be able to burst in and we let the wind play with it. It is a creative hub, a laboratory of variety. Light – sunlight – is largely responsible for the transformations I observe in nature and it has inspired and prompted me to work with light in these new sculptures. Light is the beginning of every life. Taking hold of light means being one with nature. Each angle of incidence of light can make a world of difference. The Maker Maxity site in the centre of Mumbai, India.
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Red Beacon, Jing’An Sculpture Park & Natural History Museum in Shanghai, China.
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What projects using light do you still have in prospect? The first sculpture where we shall be using light is a proposal for a large music festival. There are also plans for: • The Champ de Mars in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower • Red Beacon, at the Jing’An Sculpture Park & Natural History Museum in Shanghai • The Maker Maxity site in the centre of Mumbai • A proposal for Toronto
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Virtual light sculpture proposal. 2018.
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The Maker Maxity site in the centre of Mumbai, India.
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ARNE QUINZE Head office Hooglatemweg 18 9830 Sint-Martens-Latem Belgium www.arnequinze.com info@arnequinze.com
Arne Quinze is represented by MARUANI MERCIER GALLERY Avenue Louise 430 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium www.maruanimercier.com laurent@maruanimercier.com Photography Dave Bruel Texts Arne Quinze Bram Coudijzer Dave Bruel Translations Gregory Ball Production Parole Published by Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium Printed by Graphius, Ghent, Belgium
ISBN 978-2-930487-31-1
© Arne Quinze — All rights reserved 2019