Arne Quinze, Macrantha, 2023

The unbridled beauty of nature, along with the various cultures he encounters through his travels are pertinent to Arne Quinze’s undertaking as an artist. At its very core, his work is a reflection on these themes intertwined with a persistent end goal of reinvigorating our often-monotonous urban environments. From drawings to paintings to massive public installations imbued with bold flashes of colour, his message is unequivocally optimistic.

Quinze was born in Belgium in 1971, currently residing near Ghent. His start as a graffiti artist in the 1980s made him realize that cities can act as open-air museums, an idea which resounds to this day. Ever since he has been fascinated with the way art can engage with people in the public sphere, and how it can subsequently unite them in harmony. His main inspiration comes from his garden – containing a vast and diverse range of wildflower species – which provides him with an abundance of inspiration. He channels the garden’s tenacity and resilience through his work, which prominently highlights nature’s unwavering character. In that regard, he recognizes the importance of nature’s symbiosis with our modern lives. His unconventional public installations have presented these concepts worldwide in the city centers including Belgium (Cityscape, The Sequence), Germany (The Traveller), France (Camille, Rock Strangers), Lebanon (The Visitor), China (Red Beacon), Brazil (Matarazzo), and the USA (Uchronia, Timegate, Whispers), among others.

In every culture Quinze comes across, he unravels physical processes, drawing inspiration for his oeuvre, and is fueled by overwhelming optimism. Every new creative breed captures his research and study on interaction, and urban movement expressing the continuous evolution of human beings and their surroundings. Besides building architectural sculptures, he creates complex art pieces and video installations inscribing his vision in society of how people see themselves and society. Works such as Bidonvilles, Stilthouses, Chaos, My Home My House My Stilthouse, My Safe Garden, Natural Chaos and Natural Chaos Satellites have been shown worldwide, and recently, his largest light sculpture ever entitled 'Oasis', was executed in 2022 for Riyadh's Noor Festival of Light. Coinciding with the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2024, Quinze and music producer Swizz Beatz will debut an immersive installation co-curated by Hervé Mikaeloff and Reiner Opoku. In autumn Quinze will be the subject of a solo exhibition entitled 'Secret Beauty' at the Ludwig Museum Koblenz, Germany.

Paintings

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Arne Quinze Belgium, b. 1971