At the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel in Venice, two giant sculpted hands are creeping up out of the water, seemingly holding up a building. The work, named Support is by contemporary artist Lorenzo Quinn as part of this year’s Venice Biennale.
Internationally renowned as one of the most popular sculptors of our times, the installation showcases Quinn’s artistic progression and his experimentation with new mediums and subject matter to transmit his passion for eternal values and authentic emotions.
Reflecting on the two sides of human nature, the creative and the destructive, as well as the capacity for humans to act and make an impact on history and the environment, Quinn addresses the ability for humans to make a change and re-balance the world around them – environmentally, economically and socially.
Support sees two large hands emerging from the Grand Canal to protect and support the historic building of the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel. The hands symbolise tools that can both destroy the world, but also have the capacity to save it.
Quinn says, “I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body. The hand holds so much power – the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy.”
By installing Support in Venice, Quinn draws attention to the delicate existence of humans and society against the force of nature in today’s climate of change.
Support will be showing as part of the Venice Biennale at the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel, Venice until 26 November.
