Lorenzo Quinn – Sustaining Art With Your Own Hands
Among contemporary Land artists, Lorenzo Quinn (b. 1966) is one you do not forget easily. Born in Rome to the Academy Award-winning actor Anthony Quinn and his second wife, Italian costume designer Iolanda Addolori, Quinn’s childhood and life were to be eternally split between the United States and Europe. Taking inspiration from the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Bernini and Rodin, Quinn is renowned for creating monumental sculptures in all the corners of the world, from cities to remote locations spread throughout the seven continents. Exhibited internationally, his land art is easily recognisable and intimately linked to Quinn’s “passion for eternal values and authentic emotions” [1].
Lorenzo Quinn. Photo Courtesy: Spain Fine Art.
Lorenzo Quinn is internationally acclaimed and best known for his sculptures of colossal hands, “the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body”, able to convey power, “the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy” [2]. Quinn’s art aims to highlight socio-economic and environmental issues, helping to raise awareness towards the safeguarding of the Earth and its inhabitants. The one artwork that consecrated Quinn to eternal fame was Support (2017), two monumental hands used to virtually sustain Palazzo Morosini Sagredo on the Canal Grande in Venice, which appeared during the 57th Biennale and were commissioned by Halcyon Art International. A rather impactful sculpture created to transmit Venice’s fragility, among the most unique cities in the world, menaced by climate change and the rising of sea levels. Thanks to its size and message, the artwork transcended its limits and launched a more important warning: the world’s beauty needs to be saved and Mother Nature needs to be protected [3]. The hands keep reminding us of our ability to address global issues and re-balance the planet’s precarious harmony.
Lorenzo Quinn, Support, 2017, Venice. Photo Courtesy: Halcyon Gallery.
Venice became a focal point in Quinn’s career and during the 2019 Biennale he presented another one of his “hands”. Building Bridges (2019) was a huge artwork of twelve intertwined hands coming out of the water above the bridge at the entrance of the Arsenale. A colossal sculpture – 15-metre high and 20-metre long – that became a symbol of union and connection, empathy and love. Every pair of hands represented a different gesture and in doing so celebrated the several meanings hands convey: love, affection, faith, hope, friendship and wisdom. As Quinn himself explained, “Venice is the city of bridges. It’s the ideal place to share a message of unity and peace so that most of us build bridges with others instead of walls and barriers” [4].
A series of artworks, those of Quinn, captured in endless pictures online but that officially have never been part of the Biennale as an organisation, and that are often the cause of bitter criticism for their kitsch and consumeristic approach to art. Despite the objective of raising attention to climate change, of which Venice is an unfortunate example, Quinn’s sculptures have not been appreciated by the entire art community, and especially the ones presented at the Arsenale scandalised several art professionals for their hyper-commerciality [5] and, to some extent, their intrinsic nepotism.
Lorenzo Quinn, Building Bridges, 2019, Venice. Photo Courtesy: Dave Benett.
Quinn’s hands have never been limited only to Venice and with the series Hand of God (2009-2019) the artist has been able to spread his artworks all around the world. The series was made of six sculptures, presented in Shanghai, London, St Petersburg, Ireland, Gloucestershire and Andorra, both in aluminium and bronze. A clear religious message is intrinsic to these artworks and, as stated by the artist’s website itself, recalls the words of the poem Footprints in the Sand written by Mary Stevenson in 1939. The poem, which describes a man walking on the beach with the Lord, helps understand the artist’s relationship with religion and spirituality and clearly represents the sculpture’s message in its last lines: “The Lord replied, ‘My son, my precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you seen only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you’” [6].
Lorenzo Quinn, Hand of God, 2019, Jingan District, Shanghai. Photo Courtesy: Lorenzo Quinn.
Quinn’s hands and Italy have a strong connection. Throughout the years, his much-discussed installation Give (2020-2021) arrived also in Florence, in the Giardini di Boboli, and in front of the Cathedral of Palermo, Sicily. In Florence, the work was on display for a month before returning to Pietrasanta, a small town in Versilia (Tuscany), to which Quinn donated his sculpture. The installation, made from resin and recycled materials, representing the hands of a man and a woman holding an olive tree, is meant to be a symbol of peace and environmental sustainability. For the artist, the artwork’s “inspiration matured from the relationship between humanity, the world, and in particular nature, which has always given and continues to give without expecting anything in return” [7]. As with most of Quinn’s work, the sculptures raised bitter criticism for their imposing presence on prestigious and, most of all, artistically important urban landscapes, like that of the majestic Arab-Norman Cathedral of Palermo. Street Art that tends to be more and more “compulsive and illustrative” [8], according to Artribune, and is close to be drifted away by the ever-changing market trends.
Lorenzo Quinn, Give, 2021, Palermo, Sicily. Photo Courtesy: Lorenzo Quinn.
Lorenzo Quinn is one of those artists one loves or hates. There seem to be no half measures with such an imposing personality, split between the internationally recognised author and the nepo-baby with an illustrious DNA. Despite all the critiques and sometimes-monotonous subjects, Quinn’s installations have the positive characteristic of being the object of discussion, whenever they appear around the world and one of the links between art and environment. Thanks to his recognisability and background, Quinn’s sculptures should be able to raise awareness about our planet and the implications of climate change, possibly becoming a symbol of nature’s resilience and all the good that is left within humanity.
Bibliography:
“Biography”, Lorenzo Quinn’s website.
“Biography”, Lorenzo Quinn’s website.
“Lorenzo Quinn: le opere di Land Art”, VilleGiardini.
“Lorenzo Quinn: le opere di Land Art”, VilleGiardini.
“L’opera Building Bridges di Lorenzo Quinn a Venezia. Le manone sulla città”, Artribune.
“Hand of God”, Lorenzo Quinn’s website.
“Lorenzo Quinn's hands have been discovered: displayed in Boboli overlooking Florence”, Finestre sull’Arte.
“Lorenzo Quinn a Palermo: le mani sulla Cattedrale e l’arte (pubblica) del banale”, Artribune.
Beatrice Borriero
En Plein Air Co-Editor, MADE IN BED
