Lorenzo Quinn
Italian, b. 1966
Contemporary Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn is a leading figurative sculptor whose work is inspired by such masters as Michelangelo, Bernini and Rodin. Exhibited internationally, his monumental public art and smaller, more intimate pieces transmit his passion for eternal values and authentic emotions. He is best known for expressive recreations of human hands. 'I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body', he asserts. 'The hand holds so much power - the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy.'
Born on 7 May 1966 in Rome to the Mexican-American actor Anthony Quinn and his second wife, costume designer Iolanda Addolori, Lorenzo Quinn had a childhood split between Italy and the United States of America. His father had a profound influence on him, both in terms of living in the limelight of the film world and with respect to Anthony's early work in painting and architecture.
Lorenzo Quinn studied at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York, planning to be a Surrealist painter. However, at 21 he decided that his future lay in sculpture, which could better accommodate his energy and originality. He vividly recalls the moment in 1989 when he felt that he had created his first genuine work of art: 'I had made a torso from Michelangelo's drawing of Adam ... an artisan's job.... I had an idea and began chiselling away, and Eve came out of Adam's body.... It had started as a purely academic exercise, yet it had become an artwork.'
In 1988 Quinn married Giovanna Cicutto, and on the birth of the first of their three sons they decided to leave New York - a place that 'hardens your human values' - and settle in Spain. 'We chose Spain for its Latin character, its fervour ... the way it values people and family, and for its great artistic trajectory', he comments.
In his twenties Quinn had a brief acting career, including playing alongside his father in Stradivari (1989) and an acclaimed performance as Salvador Dalí. However, he did not enjoy working in the profession and decided to concentrate purely on sculpture.
Quinn's creative ideas spark quickly into life: 'The inspiration comes within a millisecond', he says, as he is driven to sculpt by observing life's everyday energy. Yet a finished project takes months to realise, and it has to carry clear meaning. Quinn usually conceives each work in writing, and the poetic text is ultimately displayed with the sculpture, as an integral part of the piece, not merely explanation.
Quinn's work appears in many private collections throughout the world and has been exhibited internationally during the past 20 years. Among his commissions is The Tree of Life, produced for the United Nations and issued by the organisation as a stamp in 1993. The following year the Vatican engaged him to sculpt the likeness of St Anthony for the Basilica del Santo in Padua, in commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the saint's birth; the sculpture was blessed by the pope in St Peter's Square, Rome, in front of a crowd of 35,000.
Quinn's public art includes Encounters, a massive globe enclosing a pointing hand, which was unveiled in 2003 opposite the Museum of Modern Art in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In Birmingham, The Tree of Life was erected outside St Martin's Church in 2005 to commemorate those who died in the Second World War blitz on the city. Further works are on display at King Edward's Wharf - Creation, Volare and Crossing a Millennium - with their characteristic focus on the hand, the human form and the circle.
In November 2005 one of Quinn's largest public sculptures, Rise Through Education, was installed at ASPIRE, the Academy of Sports Excellence, in Doha, commissioned by the state of Qatar. Weighing an impressive 8 tonnes, this monument shows a pair of adult hands placing the world in a child's hand, the arms forming a circle above an open book. The artist's commentary on the piece states: 'A child is the most precious asset our future has. Our obligation is their guidance.... It is only through education and knowledge that a person may master his life.' Quinn created a second sculpture for the interior of the academy to depict striving for excellence; Reaching for Gold is a pyramid of seven arms emerging from a base of sand, the hands straining towards a medal.
Unique among his works as a living monument, Legacy (2006) was sculpted for Sant Climent de Llobregat in Spain. Quinn was fascinated by the story of the town's cherry trees and decided to make a piece that reflected this tale. The tree-trunk is formed by a male and a female hand holding branches laden with cherries arranged to simulate human DNA. In this area famed for its juicy cherries, the sculpture carries as many fruit as there are people living in Sant Climent; each year further cherries will be added to represent new inhabitants.
In 2008 Evolution, a major exhibition of Quinn's output, was chosen to inaugurate the new premises of Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair, London, and the gallery published an important book on his work. Many of the sculptures in Evolution featured the symbol that has become synonymous with Quinn: the human hand.
Equilibrium, an exhibition of Quinn's monumental sculptures, followed in November 2009, coinciding with the installation of Give and Take III in Berkeley Square for six months. Included in the show were several important new sculptures, including What Came First? - male and female forms lying in egg-shaped hemispheres - and Home Sweet Home - a marble woman cocooned in barbed wire. The exhibition title reflects Quinn's belief: 'It is essential to find a balance in life. Many times that balance is achieved with the help of the people who surround us and hold us firmly to the ground, and without whom we would float into perdition.'
Quinn exhibited internationally during 2010, holding shows at the Rafart Gallery in Spain, the Rarity Gallery in Greece, the Hewar Art Gallery in Saudi Arabia, the Marigold Gallery in India and the Ode to Art Gallery in Singapore. His sculpture Vroom Vroom, a playful interpretation of the independence of young adulthood, was displayed at Valencia's Institute of Modern Art in the summer and again later that year at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair. In January 2011 the work was installed in Park Lane, London, as part of Westminster Council's City of Sculpture Festival, and Finding Love was unveiled at the entrance of the newly opened One Hyde Park building in Knightsbridge. Coinciding with two further prominent placements of Quinn's monumental sculpture - The Force of Nature II in Berkeley Square and Volare in Cadogan Gardens - these pieces firmly launched Halcyon Gallery's public sculpture trail in the city of London.
In spring 2011, Quinn was invited to participate in the first ever summer exhibition of outdoor sculpture in Rome. Planned as Rome's Biennale di Scultura but subsequently renamed Rassegna Internazionale di Scultura di Roma, it featured a range of significant contemporary and historic artists. At the Casina Valadier in the Villa Borghese Park he exhibited La Dolce Vita, a piece representing the joie de vivre of that period and a 'sense of total abandonment to the child within'. That summer he was also selected as the exhibiting artist for the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. His powerful and provocative anti-war installation This is Not a Game was positioned across two different sites with a commentary that observed, 'Leaders of the world use their armies as if they were some private little toy they can commandeer and destroy as a careless kid would'.
The high esteem in which Quinn is held is borne out by his invitation to exhibit Hand of God and Leap of Faith at the Winter Palace in the State Hermitage, St Petersburg, to coincide with the 2011 international White Nights arts festival. Displayed alongside works by Henry Moore, Quinn's sculptures reflect his creative approach to the passage of time: 'The past is set in stone, the present is carving itself in wood, and the future is an empty goblet to fill with dreams'.
Quinn's spring 2012 retrospective at Harrods in London - his first solo exhibition at this world-famed location - presented pieces from the Love series, photographic aluminium wall panels and a film exploring his work. One of the highlights of the show was the double sculpture Perfect Relationship (2011): a pair of graceful bronze hands rising from two nautilus fossils, shells that spiral in the proportions of the golden ratio and here symbolise the perfection of soul mates in love. Another prestigious London opportunity was the installation of La Dolce Vita in Park Lane at the end of September 2012.
In the United States, Halcyon Gallery donated Quinn's The Force of Nature II, a piece created in the wake of the 2009 tsunami, to benefit two non-profit organisations: the Happy Hearts Fund, established to rebuild communities after natural disasters, and the March to the Top Foundation, helping Africans affected by economic poverty. The sculpture, so clearly symbolic of human strength and resilience in the face of adversity, has a specially constructed base with tiers of donor plaques, and proceeds from them will fund the construction of two new schools. In October 2012, The Force of Nature II was installed at the Paramount Group's magnificent skyscraper on the Avenue of the Americas in New York. Complementing this pairing of public art with philanthropy is a further placement of The Force of Nature II at a cultural development project on the seafront at Doha in Qatar aiming to encourage and promote the arts. More recently, two of Quinn's sculptures, Love and Emotions were donated for auction, raising more than £300,000 for several charities in 2014. An exciting installation was inspired, commissioned and donated by the toy manufacturer BRUDER Spielwaren GmbH + Co. KG to the City of Fuerth, Germany in February 2014. Dreams Come True is a 3m x 16m sculpture which depicts the monumental aluminium hands of a playing child who is immersed in the colourful play-world of building and construction, complete with an excavator, dumpster and life-sized toy construction workers.
Full Circle (2013), Quinn's fifth solo exhibition at Halcyon Gallery, London, marked a pivotal moment in the artist's career. Displaying new works interspersed with older and more familiar pieces, the show represented the artist's experimentation with new materials and themes highlighting his creative development over the last decade. Following the exhibition on New Bond Street which ran the length of the summer, Full Circle was then showcased at Halcyon Gallery, Harrods towards the end of 2013.
Throughout 2013 and 2014, Quinn exhibited at a number of important international art fairs including Art Monaco '13; Art Palm Beach; Miami International Art Fair; PINTA, London; SCOPE, New York and Art Toronto, Canada. During this period the artist was also awarded several public placements, including the installation of new works Tight Rope II and Four Loves (alongside Force of Nature II), on the island of Ibiza in 2013. In December 2014, Quinn returned to Park Lane to unveil Harmony, his unique interpretation of the traditional Yin and Yang symbol. Displayed in the UK for the first time, the monumental piece measures 3m in height, and is cast in polished aluminium and stainless steel.
In April 2015, Halcyon Gallery announced its partnership with Gallery Odyssey in association with the Indiabulls Group in Mumbai, with the inaugural exhibition In the Hands of Lorenzo Quinn. The first time Quinn's work has been exhibited in India, this career defining show runs throughout the summer while such monumental works as Leap of Faith, The Force of Nature II and Love are displayed to the public within the grounds of the Indiabulls headquarters in Mumbai as part of its commitment to supporting art and cultural programmes locally and internationally.
In an ongoing sculpture programme, 'Mine!' 'No, Mine!' was installed in January 2016 followed by The Four Loves, Gravity, The Force of Nature, Harmony and Moments in 2018.
Quinn's sculptures have continued to be selected as public art to be exhibited at the prestigious Park Lane site in London, with I will Catch you if you Fall installed in September 2015. In dialogue with works such as Harmony, this monumental sculpture reflects the eternal values of love, balance and support integral to human relationships. In the artist's words, 'When all around us seems to be kept in a fragile balance it's important to know that, if it comes tumbling down, there will be someone to catch our fall.'
Halcyon Gallery held an important retrospective exhibition of Quinn's works in September 2016, demonstrating both his artistic progression and his desire to experiment with new mediums at this stage in his career, as in I will Catch you if you Fall. The show, Lorenzo Quinn, affirmed his position as a leading figurative sculptor of international renown with an impressive legacy, yet hinted at an exciting future trajectory in his work.
The monumental sculpture Support was installed in May 2017 in the Grand Canal facing Ca' Sagredo, in the Cannaregio district of Venice, to coincide with the Venice Biennale. Composed of a child's hands reaching up from the depths of the Grand Canal to bolster the antique façade of the palace, this new public work engaged boldly with the historical and ecological issues that confront the city today.
In September 2017, a 5-metre The Force of Nature was installed, to dramatic effect, on the top of the Modern Art Museum, Shanghai, China, overlooking the Huangpu River. A Dangerous Game was unveiled in December 2017 at Mana Wynwood during Miami Art Week, Florida. It is the latest in a series of associated works in which Quinn uses a giant child's hand to highlight concerns about escalating aggression between nations. The exhibition, Actions Not Words, held at Halcyon Gallery, London, from October to December 2017, introduced the public to the artist's new work.
In 2018, Quinn designed a new sculpture for The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award, Empowerment, which depicts the hands of a young woman and a young man holding the world, working together as a beacon of hope for future generations. For another philanthropic project, the artist was commissioned to create Give from the Heart by The Steve and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. The sculpture represents their commitment to inspiring philanthropy and giving back to the community 'by creating awareness, offering guidance, and leading by example to show the world what giving can do'.
Yet another monumental sculpture, The Force of Nature II was installed at the Jing'an International Centre (JAIC) in Shanghai, China in September 2018. The following month in October 2018, Stop Playing! was installed at Forte Marghera, a military fortress in Venice. The work not only engages with the military history of Venice, but also comments on our need to conserve the world's natural resources.
In May 2019, during the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, the monumental sculpture Building Bridges was installed in a basin adjacent to the entrance of the Arsenale, in the Castello District of Venice. This new public work, composed of six pairs of monumental hands, individually titled 'Friendship', 'Faith', 'Help', 'Love', 'Hope' and 'Wisdom', aligns with Quinn's message of world unity and engages with the history of Venice as a meeting point of international history and culture. That same month, the exhibition Possibilità opened at Halcyon Gallery, featuring brand-new work in which Quinn revisits his most fundamental motif - the human figure. The exhibition revealed the full scope of his artistic project, journeying from the traditional methods used to make each sculpture, to the potentiality of his future visions.
Císcar Casabán describes Quinn's work as 'profound, spiritual and existential because it deals with the passions we experience as humans and the questions we pose in the silence about ultimate truth ... these are sculptures based on great myths, referring to the broad themes that recur in our civilisation and cut across distinctions of culture and time.'
TRAINING
1986-1988 American Academy of Fine Arts, New York
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2019 Possibilità, Halcyon Gallery, London
2015 Lorenzo Quinn, Halcyon Gallery, London
2015 In the Hands of Lorenzo Quinn, Gallery Odyssey, Mumbai, India
2013 Art al Set, Hermitage Hotel, Soldeu, Andorra
2013 Poems, Galleria Ca' d'Oro, Miami, Florida
2013 Full Circle, Halcyon Gallery, London
2012 Rafart Gallery, Almenar, Spain
2012 Halcyon Gallery, London
2011 Metamorphosis, Halcyon Gallery, London
2011 Ode to Art Gallery, Singapore
2011 Festival of Sculpture, City of Westminster, London
2010 Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2010 Hewar Art Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2009 Marigold Fine Art Gallery, Mumbai/New Delhi, India
2009 Equilibrium, Halcyon Gallery, London
2008 Evolution, Halcyon Gallery, London
2007 Rafart Gallery, Almenar, Spain
2007 El Claustre Art Gallery, Girona, Spain
2007 Fonda del Nastasi, Lleida, Spain
2005 Halcyon Gallery, London
2004 Halcyon Gallery, London
2004 Liehrmann Gallery, Liege, Belgium
2004 Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura, Veracruz, Mexico
2003 Values, Halcyon Gallery, London
2002 Halcyon Gallery, London
2002 Art Exhibition Hall, Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2001 Halcyon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2001 Halcyon Gallery, London
2000 Museum of Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
1999 Deutsche Bank, Madrid, Spain
1999 Palais des Rois de Majorque, Perpignan, France
1998 Seoul Art Centre, South Korea
1998 Seville Town Hall, Spain
1997 Summers Gallery, Madrid, Spain
1995 Louvre, Paris
1994 United Nations, New York
1993 Scheidegger Art Centre, Zürich, Switzerland
1993 Edieuropa Gallery, Rome
1993 Steinrotter Gallery, Münster, Germany
1992 Mayfair Gallery, New York
1992 Westport Arts Center, Connecticut, USA
1991 Ambassador Galleries, New York, USA
1991 Haussmann Gallery, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
SELECTED PUBLIC PLACEMENTS
2019 Building Bridges, Venice
2018 Stop Playing!, Forte Marghera, Venice
2018 The Force of Nature II, Jing'an International Centre (JAIC), Shanghai, China
2017 The Force of Nature, Modern Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2017 Support, The Venice Biennale, Italy
2017 LOVE, Millbank, London
2017 The Four Loves, Berkeley Square, London
2015 Will you catch me if I fall?, Park Lane, London
2015 Finding Love Give and Take III, Gallery Odyssey & Indiabulls, Mumbai, India
2014 Harmony, Park Lane, London
2014 Dreams Come True, Fuerth-Burgfarrnbach, Germany
2013 Give and Take III, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
2013 Tight Rope II, Four Loves, Force of Nature II, Ibiza, Balearic Islands
2012 Force of Nature II, Cultural Village, Doha, Qatar
2012 The Force of Nature II, 6th Avenue Paramount Building, New York
2012 La Dolce Vita, Park Lane, London
2012 The Force of Nature II, Cultural Village, Doha, Qatar
2011 Leap of Faith, Finding Love, One Hyde Park, London
2011 Hand of God, Vroom Vroom, Park Lane, London
2011 Hand of God, Leap of Faith, State Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia
2011 The Force of Nature II, Berkeley Square, London
2011 Volare, Cadogan Place, London
2010 Vroom Vroom, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2010 In Perspective, Donetsk, Ukraine
2010 View into the Future, Sitges, Barcelona, Spain
2010 Vroom Vroom, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia
2009 Give and Take III, Berkeley Square, London
2009 Love, Grand Hyatt, Doha, Qatar
2009 Hand of God, Caldea Building, Andorra
2008 The Force of Nature, La Belle Époque, Monaco
2008 The Force of Nature, Marina Barrage, Singapore
2006 Legacy, Sant Climent de Llobregat, Spain
2005 Rise Through Education, Reaching for Gold, ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, Qatar
2005 The Tree of Life, St Martin's Church, Birmingham, UK
2003 Encounters, Museum of Modern Art, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2002 Re-encounters, Colegio San Gabriel, Viladecans, Barcelona, Spain
2001 Crossing a Millennium, Creation and Volare, King Edward's Wharf, Birmingham, UK
1998 The Friendship Fish, Ampuriabrava, Girona, Spain
1995 Saint Anthony, Basilica del Santo, Padua, Italy
ART FAIRS
2014 Art Toronto, Canada
2014 PINTA, Earls Court, London
2014 SCOPE New York
2014 Art Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Florida
2014 Miami International Art Fair, Florida
2013 Art Monaco '13, Monaco
2011 Venice Biennale, Italy
2011 Rassegna Internazionale di Scultura, Rome
2011 Mobil'Art, Liège, Belgium
2011 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair, New York
2010 Abu Dhabi Art Fair, United Arab Emirates
2007 Holland Art Fair, The Hague, Netherlands
2003 International Convention Centre, Birmingham, UK
2003 ArtExpo, Barcelona, Spain
2001 TEFAF Art and Antiques Fair, Maastricht, Netherlands
2000 ARCO, Madrid, Spain
1999 ArtExpo, Barcelona, Spain
1998 ArtExpo, Barcelona, Spain
COLLECTIONS
Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Valencia
