Oasis

"From beginning as a street artist in the 1980s, Belgian contemporary artist Arne Quinze has always centered his work in cities across the world. In each of Arne Quinze’s recent works we encounter a seemingly chaotic confrontation between individual elements that nevertheless correlate and form an integral part of a meticulously created and organically multiplied biotope. Each deals with different themes around ideas of social interaction, urbanization and diversity.

Colors and forms are as varied as the viewer’s imagination. The artist hereby depicts a society as a coherent and intact ecosystem, a sampling of nature, which is his chief inspiration. In this way, his worldwide art installations call for a retention of diversity and pluralism, for experimentation and cross-fertilization. This is a clear indictment of the present trend towards monocultures and soured relations.

Bringing people back together again is, according to Quinze, the ultimate goal of public art. After an initial surprising impression, a sculpture is able to refine the threshold of acceptance for the passer-by. As in the artworks, and as in nature, cities should aim for a symbiosis of numerous organisms, which in their turn fuel conversation and consequently the conservation of their future.

In fact, the artist quite literally challenges monocultures. With his garden as a scale model, an explosion of life with the rampant splendor of flowers, the pursuit of variation and diversity is both a statement and a leitmotiv that runs through his work.