In our previous post dedicated to Lorenzo Quinn we have concentrated our attention on his monumental sculpture that seems to hold up Ca' Sagredo along the Grand Canal and to hold up Venice as a whole. Inside this Venetian palazzo, by the way, it is possible to admire some more extraordinary works by Lorenzo Quinn.
A hall of Ca’ Sagredo
One of these is called Four Loves: Love is interpreted as the foundation that supports the entire world.
Four loves
The four different types of love are represented in this sculpture, according to its primary forms that the ancient Greeks identified. Starting from the bottom, we find Agape, which is the immense, selfless, fraternal form of love; it is cast in shiny bronze, to underline its purity. Then we find Eros, the passionate love, represented by a red stone. The third kind of love is Philia, friendship, cast in shiny stainless steel, similar to a mirror, since every one reflects themselves into their friends. The last form of love is Storge, the parental love, carved in wood, which is a warm live material, in continuous growth.
Four Loves, detail
We all create our own world on the basis of these four types of love, up till when we reach a perfect balance, which can be identified in a long lasting relationship between a man and a woman. This relationship is "more precious than gold" (Lorenzo Quinn).
Four Loves, detail
Four Loves, detail
Four Loves, detail
We can then admire the marble and aluminum forms of Gravity, which is a fundamental value for all human beings to find their form of equilibrium in their lives, with the help of other people, as to avoid getting lost in the vacuum.
Gravity
Gravity, detail
Quite interesting is also another sculpture that deals with love, and Love is its title. According to the artist, there is no greater love than the one that grows day after day within ourselves. It is a continuous flow of emotions that involves giving and receiving, up till we reach total completeness.
Love
Love, detail
During Love is another marvelous work of art, which suggests that nothing can destroy what comes out of our hearts.
During Love
During Love, detail
One more sculpture dedicated to love is Eternal Love: unconditioned love goes beyond all borders, both in space and in time.
Eternal Love
Eternal Love, detail
With Finding Love we almost experience the magic and the wonder of meeting, falling in love and loving each other.
Finding Love
Finding Love, detail
We find hands again in Give and Take: this is a fundamental concept to reach balance in our lives. The sculptor states that this is exactly what Nature has taught us since the beginning of time, as human beings cannot really appreciate what they receive if they have not ever given anything.
Give and Take
Give and Take, detail
However, the sculpture that fills up our souls with sincere and intense emotion, among all those that are exhibited at Ca' Sagredo, is The Force of Nature. Actually, there are different works by Lorenzo Quinn with the same name.
Lorenzo Quinn and The Force of Nature II, New York City (Image Credit – Halcyon Gallery)
As the artist himself said, he started to dedicate sculptures to Mother Nature after the terrible tsunami that heavily affected Thailand in 2004 and after hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 different areas of the U.S., such as Louisiana and Alabama. Humans have always thought that they are superior to what surrounds them, feeling authorized to destroy nature. But Mother Nature always reminds us, with its fury, that her power is absolute, and destructive. In the past people used to dedicate different offers to deities in order to calm the anger of the Earth; today we should remember that we have to be always grateful to Mother Nature and that we have to respect her. Quinn's works can then be considered as "offers to the gods, to calm their anger" (Lorenzo Quinn).
The Force of Nature
The Force of Nature, detail
It is been several years since the artist has started to stress this necessity. The best results, in our opinion, have been reached with his sculpture Support in Venice.
Support
The last sensational work of art that we would like to present in our post is What Goes Around Comes Around: every human action leads to some consequences. It is not a case that in this sculpture the Earth is in the middle of the long arms of the figure. Once more, this seems an invitation, if not a prayer, to respect the world that we have been given.
What Goes Around Comes Around
What Goes Around Comes Around, detail
We are waiting for you, to show Venice in its grandeur as well as in its fragility, with the help of the extraordinary sculptures by Lorenzo Quinn. Now we say goodbye to you with another picture of The Force of Nature. Ciao!
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