Arne Quinze

Arne Quinze (born 15 December 1971) is a Belgian conceptual artist known for his public art installations, which include sculptures, drawings, and paintings. He began as a graffiti artist in Brussels in his late teens and has no formal art education.

Arne Quinze
Quinze and his sculpture Mojave, a Chroma Lupine
Born	(1971-12-15) 15 December 1971 (age 53) Ghent, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Known for	Public art installations, Paintings, installation art, Sculptures
Style	Contemporary art, Conceptual art
Movement	Contemporary art, Environmental art
Spouses	Barbara Becker ​ (m. 2009⁠–⁠2011)​ An Lemmens ​ (m. 2012⁠–⁠2015)​
Website	arnequinze.com

Installation art

Quinze creates sculptures^[1] using wooden planks and other materials.

In 2006, he built Uchronia: "A Message from the Future," a large wooden sculpture at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. Cityscape (2007) and The Sequence (2008) are two of his large wooden public art installations in the center of Brussels, Belgium. The Sequence was installed outside the Flemish Parliament building and the House of Flemish Representatives. In Munich, Germany, he built Traveller (2008) for Louis Vuitton.^[2] His other public art installations include Rebirth (2008) in Paris, France;^[3] The Visitor (2009) in Beirut, Lebanon,^[4] and an ongoing project at the Big Four Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky^[5]

During a festivalRouen Impressionnée in Rouen in the summer of 2010, he paid tribute to Claude Monet^[6] by painting the Les Jardins/The Waterlilies series for an exhibition in the Abbatiale de Saint-Ouen. The festival was organized as part of the Normandie Impressionniste festival, under the presidency of Laurent Fabius, celebrating the region's impressionist past. In addition to the exhibition, an installation titled Camille^[7] was built on the painted Bridge, a bridge that was painted by Camille Pissarro several times.

Quinze has stated that he intends his installations to serve as modern gathering places.Red Beacon (2010) is located in the Jing'an Sculpture Park in Shanghai.^[8][9] He says his sculptures redefine social space and provide alternative models of interaction.

Another work explores how people seek safe environments. The installation "My Home My House My Stilthouse" (2011) in Humlebaek, Denmark, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art explores new forms of housing and living.^[10]

He revealed a virtual installation Rock Strangers (2011)^[11] on the Statue of Liberty in New York City on the 4th of July in collaboration with Beck's^[12] for their Green Box Project. The project was co-curated, commissioned, and mentored by Nick Knight of SHOWstudio.com and producer Sam Spiegel.

In the context of Mons 2015 European Capital of Culture, a wooden installation called The Passenger was built and remained visible from 6 December 2014 until 19 December 2019. After a partial collapse on 24 December 2014, the installation was rebuilt and inaugurated on 16 October 2015.

'Uchronia', a large wooden sculpture at the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City. Nevada desert, United States.

'Rock Strangers', a sculpture by Arne Quinze in Ostend

The Beautiful Dreamer by Arne Quinze

Work

Quinze's artwork often references social interaction, evolution, communication, rhythm, and the interplay of lines, contrasts and contradictions. Recurring materials and techniques in his work are wood, including salvaged wood; cardboard, polyurethane and fluorescent paint. The intense color of some of his sculptures contrasts with their surroundings.

He works in themes such as Bidonville, Stilthouse, My Home My House My Stilthouse,^[13][14] View and Chaos. Bidonvilles are considered houses for the future, intended to provoke open communication in a society of human interaction.^[15] Stilthouses can be perceived as humans on fragile legs symbolizing the strong nature of man.

In 2009, Quinze installed a public Stilthouse installation called "The Visitor" in Beirut, Lebanon near its newly developed Souk complex. Auction house Phillips de Pury & Company invited the artist to present his work at their London gallery. The exhibition was extended at London's Saatchi Gallery in the Duke of York's Headquarters on King's Road.

During Hamburg Artweek (2011),^[16] Quinze revealed new work using smashed old porcelain, which he said was meant to symbolize the destruction of family traditions.

In June 2014, Quinze collaborated with Veridor to create a "Natural Chaos" artwork consisting of 45kg of precious metal. This piece was made of 18-carat rose gold and 18-carat palladium white gold in rod and pipe form, as well as gold wire and leaves. The piece, Natural Chaos - Golden Edition No. 1, was offered for sale for EUR 1.8 million on JamesEdition.^[17]

Personal life

Quinze lives and works in Sint Martens Latem near Ghent, Belgium.

Marriages

Arne Quinze married Barbara Becker at their Miami waterfront home on 9 September 2009. They celebrated on 12 September 2009 in Berlin, Germany. Becker and Quinze divorced in October 2011.

He married An Lemmens on 6 October 2012. In September 2015, Lemmens and Quinze divorced.

Further reading

• Arne Quinze – Chaoslife - Dokumente Unserer Zeit XXXXVI (German/English); Texts by Cristiana Coletti, Arne Quinze and Petra Schaefer; Chorus Verlag; Mainz 2015; ISBN 978-3-926663-46-7
• Beate Reifenscheid and Dorothea van der Koelen; Arte in Movimento – Kunst in Bewegung, Dokumente unserer Zeit XXXIV; Chorus-Verlag; Mainz 2011; ISBN 978-3-926663-44-3
• Jean-Pierre Frimbois (Author), Sieghild Lacoere (Author): Modern Contemporary Arne Quinze. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-7757-2693-1
• Various Authors, Sieghild Lacoere (Editor): Rouen Impressionnee Arne Quinze - Camille les Jardins. Atelier Arne Quinze, Sint Martens Latem 2010
• Arne Quinze (Author), Pieterjan Mattan (Author): THE SEQUENCE Arne Quinze. Gestalten, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-89955-243-0
• Arne Quinze (Author), Robert Klanten and Lukas Feireiss (Editors): Arne Quinze WORKS. Gestalten, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89955-219-5
• Max Borka (Author): CITYSCAPE Arne Quinze. Gestalten, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89955-203-4