Arne Quinze Africa Elctronica

ARNE QUINZE

Africa Electronica

EXHIBITION 26 november – 20 december 2009 LONDON

ARNE QUINZE

Africa Electronica

EXHIBITION 26 november – 20 december 2009 LONDON

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. He started in the eighties as a graffiti artist, and his work has since evolved by weaving together his multiple interests and passions, which include popular culture, music, architecture, design, urbanism, cinema, and art both high and low. Choosing his own channels, he has built his career off the beaten track, but this has not prevented him from enjoying a meteoric rise to popular and commercial success. 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.

I am most grateful to our colleague Michaela Neumeister who initially introduced us to Arne, and I am sure Arne is at least as grateful to Michaela, as it was she who introduced him to Barbara Becker who in turn not only infused his work with even more energy and passion as his ultimate muse but who also recently became his wife.

Besides expressing my deepest gratitude to Arne, Barbara and Michaela, I would also like to thank Tobias Sirtl here at Phillips de Pury who has worked tirelessly from our end to make this exhibition and catalogue a reality.

SIMON de PURY Chairman, Phillips de Pury & Company

Africa Electronica In the process of assembling Stilthouses and Bidonvilles I fully surrender to my own imagination astonished by how unorthodox houses can be built, discovering a smile on my face trying to capture these anomalous constructions. Arne Quinze While making his installations, Arne Quinze is inspired by how cities are formed and civilizations are organised. His exhibition ‘Africa Electronica’ at Phillips de Pury & Company, London, presents adaptations of Stilthouses and Bidonvilles, as well as new Lakeviews and African masks.

Quinze employs basic shapes and textures in a manner similar to African art. Primordial purity, simplicity and earthy textures define both of these elements of artistic expression. The lively spirit of Africa is reflected in his way of sculpting and painting to create pure and basic forms. His technique immediately draws the viewer’s attention towards his sculptures, sketches and paintings.

Quinze is an obsessive collector of used materials.

He gives their lines new life in the realisation of his vision. In editing what he has found, he redefines their layers and textures. He aspires to improve upon the original imperfections in his quest to create the perfect line, all the while knowing that this line might not exist.

Quinze uses ‘electric’ colours, like fluorescent orange and red, which are distinct from traditional African art, and together with his use of contrasting white and black, together they generate a charged environment. The brightness of ‘Africa Electronica’ may be read as an antidote to the large percentage of African homes without electricity. The use of synthetic fluorescent paint on top of re-used material contrasts with the organic quality that underlies his work. Moreover, his incorporation of electronic video screens emphasises this contrast and brings together disparate time zones with moving images, rhythms and dimensions.

This way of working is a manifestation of how Quinze perceives art and how he has been inspired by

African culture. While visiting the continent, Quinze was moved by the intense expressiveness some tribes effect in shaping wooden masks and ornamenting their faces with extensive jewellery, paint or clay.

In several tribes, a carving of the face is a way to express oneself, a way to leave architectural lines on the body; at a certain point, the line between the human face and mask becomes indistinguishable.

Quinze’s research on this theme resulted in his making of contemporary African masks adorned with abstract lines and rhythms. An identical exercise is conducted in his formation of Lakeviews which depict massively scaled, glistening bodies of water. Every observation is captured in a rhythm, a balance or imbalance; lines meander through his head and into his artwork to create a structure that differs from what one might detect in a landscape. The multitude of materials engenders a particular texture and threedimensionality. The use of each new material produces a new line, creating a new layer and a new expression.

The African continent compelled Quinze to surrender to its energy. Being in such an environment, Quinze instantly detected rhythms and structures in urban life different from those to which he was accustomed. In adapting these to his Bidonvilles and Stilthouses, he gives them an identity in his own society.

The linking of differing societies abides by Quinze’s belief that all individuals are equal. Cultural and economic differences between us do not alter this equality nor lessen our basic sameness. Quinze’s constructions are both favella and skyscraper, shanty town and industrialised tower. Different cultures are manifested as different lines and rhythms in his work, yet are unified within the same structure, reflecting our daily lives above and around each other. Stilthouses and Bidonvilles seem to incorporate the same shapes and have a similar construction yet after a closer look they are marked with differing details according to the culture, continent or city in which they are built.

Stilthouses and Bidonvilles are archetypal houses that serve as an analysis of how societies are shaped today.

Africa Electronica 02.09.2009 190 x 140 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 18.08.2009 190 x 140 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 24.08.2009 190 x 140 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 27.08.2009 190 x 140 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker

Night View (2009) 260 x 135 cm wood, coated polyurethane foam, paint, crayon, marker

Day View (2009) 260 x 135 cm wood, coated polyurethane foam, paint, crayon, marker

Study of a LakeView (2009) 70 x 125 cm wood, paper, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 15.09.2009 126 x 207 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker

Air City 14.04.2009 87 x 168 x 36 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, metal, paint

City View left 23.05.2009 75 x 126.5 x 14 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker

City View right 23.05.2009 75 x 128 x 14 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker

City View 05.04.2009 79.5 x 259 x 26 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint

Africa Electronica 25.08.2009 196 x 74.5 x 25 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, electronic video screen

Africa Electronica 22.08.2009 168.5 x 49 x 31 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, electronic video screen

Africa Electronica 16.09.2009 213 x 92.5 x 33.5 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, electronic video screen

Africa Electronica 01.11.2009 195 x 65 x 70 cm wood, polyurethane, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, metal

Africa Electronica 03.10.2009 200 x 90 x 70 cm wood, polyurethane, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, metal

Africa Electronica 04.09.2009 198 x 50 x 93 cm wood, polyurethane, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, metal

Africa Electronica 11.10.2009 214 x 87 x 70 cm wood, polyurethane, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, metal

Africa Electronica 01.09.2009 196 x 74.5 x 25 cm wood, polyurethane, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker, electronic video screen

LakeView 14.08.2009 210 x 314 x 21 cm wood, polyurethane, paint, marker

LakeView 18.09.2009 149 x 431 x 24 cm wood, polyurethane, paint, marker

Drawing collection (3 drawings) each 113 x 76 cm crayon, paint, marker, paper

Drawing collection (6 drawings) each 47 x 35 cm crayon, paint, marker, paper

Drawing collection (10 drawings) each single: 30 x 24 cm each double: 30 x 43 cm crayon, paint, marker, paper

Drawing collection (11 drawings) each single: 30 x 24 cm each double: 30 x 43 cm crayon, paint, marker, paper

CityView 14.07.2009 78.5 x 308 x 24 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker

Stilthouse 20.05.2009 243 x 40 x 51 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker, metal base

Stilthouse 17.05.2009 228 x 45 x 54 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker, metal base

Stilthouse 23.05.2009 246 x 38 x 70 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker, metal base

Stilthouse 25.05.2009 260 x 58 x 78 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker, metal base

Stilthouse 27.05.2009 257 x 44 x 62 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint, marker, metal base

Bidonville View 2805 Black (2008) 127 x 248 x 30.5 cm wood, polyurethane, paint

Close Up Red (2009) 112 x 96 x 42 cm paper, polyurethane, paint

Close Up Yellow (2009) 122 x 125 x 29 cm paper, polyurethane, paint

My House My Home (2009) 250 x 350 x 20 cm wood, paper, cardboard, paint, crayon, marker

Stilt Apartment (2009) 250 x 350 x 20 cm wood, paper, cardboard, paint, crayon, marker

Stilthouse My House My Home (2009) 250 x 350 x 20 cm wood, paper, cardboard, paint, crayon, marker

Stilthouse 1676 (2008) 167.6 x 96.5 x 58.4 cm wood, polyurethane, lacquer

Stilthouse 2260 (2008) 248 x 226 x 88 cm wood, polyurethane, lacquer

Stretch Red (2008) 91 x 332 x 85 cm wood, polyurethane, lacquer

Stilthouse 08.05.2009 257 x 58 x 36 cm wood, polyurethane, paint, metal base

Bidonville City 05.04.2009 196 x 68 x 27 cm polyurethane, paint, wood, metal, metal base

My Home My House My Stilthouse 09.09.2009 256 x 93 x 40 cm wood, polyurethane, paint

AirCity 12.06.2009 190 x 80 x 35 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, metal, paint

Chaos Wall Red (2009) 122.5 x 221 x 15 cm wood, paint, glass box

Chaos Life 21.07.2009 (3 pieces) each 205 x 141 x 56 cm wood, paint, glass box, electric light

City View left 08.07.2009 200 x 126 x 16 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint

City View right 08.07.2009 200 x 126 x 16 cm wood, cardboard, polyurethane, paint

Chaos Ocean (2009) 225 x 38 x 53 cm wood, paint, glass box

Chaos Wall Blue (2009) 122.5 x 221 x 15 cm wood, paint, glass box

Mansize Stilthouse 16.09.2009 193 x 74 x 120 cm wood, polyurethane, paint

Africa Electronica 02.11.2009 126 x 206.5 x 12 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 06.09.2009 126 x 206.5 x 12 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 05.10.2009 126 x 206.5 x 12 cm wood, cardboard, paper, paint, crayon, marker

Africa Electronica 10.11.2009 194.5 x 410 x 20 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker, paper, tape

Africa Electronica 01.10.2009 194.5 x 410 x 20 cm wood, paint, crayon, marker, paper, tape

Black EYE.C.U Stilthouse 22.06.2009 290 x 110 x 150 cm wood, polyurethane, paint, electronic video screens

RED EYE.C.U. Stilthouse 28.06.2009 270 x 110 x 180 wood, polyurethane, paint, electronic video screens

Controlled Chaos (2009) 205 x 141 x 56 cm wood, paint, glass box, electric light

Arne Quinze

Born in Belgium 1971. Lives and works in Belgium and Miami, Florida, USA

Biography

Vision & Inspiration

Arne Quinze’s talent lies in his ability to fuse polar extremes – passion and chaos with controlled elegance.

Contradiction

He creates immaculate, urbane and polished works that are balanced with a certain contradictory tension,

Profound contradictions define Quinze’s collective

giving them a refined yet exuberant appearance. He realises his ideas with verve and is able to generate

works, constructed by the recycling of old substances

crossovers between art and architecture as if it were child’s play.

to create new, evocative art pieces. He covers them

Every new creation captures his research and study on interaction, urbanism, movement, speed and

with high-end industrial surface finishings in vivid

light in present-day society. Quinze scans a city in a blink of an eye and grasps the ongoing rhythm running

and powerful colours ultimately reflecting social

through multifarious buildings and settlements which expresses the continuous evolution of human beings

interconnections. While constantly travelling the globe,

and their surroundings. Man cannot survive alone; we find refuge in one another. Neglecting our human

Quinze is intrigued by the ongoing rhythms in cities

needs, we live in an era where social interaction has been well-nigh diminished to non-existent.

and in people’s everyday lives. In every culture he comes across, he unravels these physical processes drawing inspiration for his œuvre that is fueled by an

Emotion

All are equal

Floating in the air, his public installations provide

As land is becoming a scarce commodity, Quinze

shelter to curious visitors and a place for contemplation

created archetypical houses: Stilthouses, hammered

of an idealistic society where all individuals are

which was illustrated in Uchronia, a message from the

together in driftwood, keeping themselves delicately

communicating and interacting. Quinze aims to

future; Cityscape, a wooden monument representing

upright on stilts; or Bidonvilles, shanty towns but at the

bring people together and push them into a vigorous

speed frozen in time and reviving a somewhat

same time highly modernised skyscrapers, resembling

dialogue. Communal activities flourish and social

neglected neighbourhood; and The Sequence,

crosscuts of metropolises. They are constantly

cohesion is the norm. His installations are built to

representing a symbolic and physical connection

mutating in different and new physical forms through

provoke reaction and to intervene in the daily lives

between two neighbours, the Flemish Parliament

an endless accretion of new limbs. Their irregularities,

of the bypassers confronted with the eye-catching

and the House of Flemish Representatives. People

jagged contour and variation in colour embody the

sculpture. Pure movement seems to keep the volatile

feel interconnected only by looking at the entangled

pursuit of people looking for uniqueness. We live

structures in the air. In this futuristic vision, Quinze

wooden sticks. Amazed by the enormous scale of the

above and around each other in private dwellings yet

takes you on a journey that transcends the dimensions

installations, people are drawn within and are given

social lines remain rigid. Whereas the wealthy live

of time and space offering an enlightening glimpse of

a moment to reset their minds, reflect and meet each

in industrialised towers at the top, the less fortunate

the myriad changes that await us.

other again.

reside in compact compounds, like the favellas.

The future is already in the now. Evolution speeds

overwhelming positivity.

Nevertheless, although financial capital differentiates

What drives him is the belief in the realisation

onward. Quinze’s installations capture speed in time,

individuals from one another each lives in a cocoon,

Constant struggle

as Rebirth underlined the schism between the past

distanced from external stimuli. As each one does

As an artist and visionary, Quinze puts up a continuing

and the future. It expressed pure energy, a chaotic

not seek an exterior life outside one’s little box, all are

fight within himself, with clients, his conceptual ideas,

tornado removing the history of a location and blazing

equal. Bidonvilles and Stilthouses stand for how we

how he sees urban development and the political

new, fresh energy inside. The Traveller for Louis Vuitton

live in modern civilization, while installations such as

world. Procuring permits from the city authorities to

invited viewers on an enigmatic travel in which roads

Cityscape, Uchronia and The Big Four Bridge provide the

enable the construction of sculptures in public spaces

led to a world of emotion and inspiration. The Traveller

answer on how society should be organised. Bring

is a constant effort. Yet when progressing with an idea

captured vibes like a seismograph, rendering visibility

people together to counter alienation.

he cannot give up on his creation. It’s an incessant

to the unbridled energy that forms the essence of

struggle, the encouraging of human beings to build

everything. The Big Four Bridge will be installed on

from scratch a whole new reality. However, he never

an old railroad bridge, which connects downtown

ceases the fight, pulling people towards accepting a

Louisville, Kentucky with Jeffersonville, Indiana.

reshaped future and society which lies ahead.

With this project Quinze turns what is to become a

In this endeavour, Quinze feels very much related

pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River into a timeline

to the first leading contemporary artists, amongst

of local history.

them Miró, Picasso, Giacometti and Calder. What unites them is the struggle against more conservative powers which they undertook in order to freely express themselves in their creative processes. Unremittingly, they strove to make something new despite engendering controversy and breaking boundaries.

They pushed further from an internal necessity which they could not ignore. Quinze challenges himself constantly, yielding to the endless experiment that art signifies to him. www.arnequinze.tv

Selected Exhibitions - Projects 2010 The Big Four Bridge, The Idea Festival, Louisiana, Kentucky, USA

2008 The Traveller, LOUIS VUITTON, Munich

2009 Stilthouse Mansize, AA, Paris

2008 Rebirth, Le Royal Monceau, Paris

2009 Video-installation, L’Eclaireur rue

2008 Arne Quinze: Sculptures, Pierre Bergé &

Sevigné, Paris 2009 Sculptures, St. Moritz Art Masters, Vienna 2009 The Visitor, Solidere, Beirut 2009 Sculptures, L’Eclaireur, Paris 2008 Arne Quinze: Sculptures, Wolfgang Roth & Partners Fine Art, Miami, Florida, USA 2008 The Sequence, Flemish Parliament, Brussels 2008 EYE.C.U, die Kunstbar, Cologne

Associates, Brussels 2007 Dreamsaver, Crystal Palace, Milan

2005 Travelling installation ‘Speed & Light’, Chicago, New York City, Miami, and Beverly Hills, USA 1999 Fibreglass and video installation, Oostende, Belgium 1998 Moving installation with plastic and

1995 Fibreglass sculptures, Dinant, Belgium 1995 Fibreglass and light installation, Fish&Chips, Antwerp, Belgium 1994 Fibreglass sculptures, The Garage, Oudenaarde, Belgium 1992 Graffiti exhibition, Molenbeek, Belgium

2007 Mutagenesis, Verona

rubber, Barclay (Arne Quinze, Takashi

1991 Graffiti exhibition, Antwerp

2007 Cityscape, public sculpture,

Murakami, David Lynch), Amsterdam

1989 Graffiti exhibition, Amsterdam

Brussels 2006 Uchronia: A message to/from the future, Burning Man Festival, Black Rock City, Nevada, USA 2005 Permanent installation, Design Post Building, Cologne

1997 Moving installation with plastic and rubber, Barclay (Arne Quinze, Takashi Murakami, David Lynch), Brussels 1996 Fibreglass and rubber installations (Arne Quinze, Herman Brood), Mechelen, Belgium

Arne Quinze would like to acknowledge the support and contribution of everyone who has helped in the making of the exhibition and catalogue.

With special thanks to: Simon de Pury, Linda & Guy Pieters, my backbone and wife Barbara Becker.

Published to coincide with the exhibition ARNE QUINZE Africa Electronica 26 November – 20 December 2009 London Phillips de Pury & Company Howick Place London SW1P 1BB +44 20 7318 4010 www.phillipsdepury.com Sales & Enquiries Tobias Sirtl +44 20 7318 4095 tsirtl@phillipsdepury.com Photography Dave Bruel

Front and back cover Africa Electronica 15.09.2009 (detail) Inside front cover Drawing collection (3 drawings) (detail) Inside back cover Drawing collection (3 drawings) (detail)

www.phillipsdepury.com