Belgian contemporary artist Arne Quinze shares some traits with his home country: he is full of dynamism, eager to assert himself, and resolutely turned toward the future, without ignoring his roots.
By Stéphane Le Duc


Arne Quinze’s path has been shaped by urbanity and by his need to communicate. At a very young age, following a troubled childhood, he left school and started expressing himself in the streets through graffiti. “I found myself on the street at age 15. At that age, you feel rejected, you don’t know where you belong, you’re lost on the planet. I had this enormous need to speak to people, and I did that through graffiti.” Street artists became his new family, and it was the start of a battle to assert his vision. Even today, after having received recognition for his work, he continues to have to fight against regulations and administrative red tape that prevent him from setting up his installations in the cities and locations he chooses.

 “My art has always been a search for who I am. Whether it’s on paper, in paint or through building things, it’s a self-discovery. It’s a confrontation with the self. It’s emotions that are given a shape.” His drawings, his paintings and his sculptures turned into a laboratory for what later became large, ephemeral installations integrated into urban spaces.

“I love showing in museums, but when it’s in the street, it forces confrontation with people. They can’t escape. All levels of society see your work; they can’t get around it.” Such is the case with his most recent installation in France, on the Boieldieu bridge in Rouen, a giant structure composed of thousands of tangled wooden slates, some of which are painted orange, his signature colour. “I want to force people to stop on the bridge. They’re shocked; they’re surprised. They see their city differently. They look at the structure and they communicate with the other passers-by and leave with a smile. Each board represents a human being, and each point where they cross is a connection. I hope that once the piece is gone, another will take its place.”

Even though Arne Quinze has been making art for more than 20 years, international recognition of his work has been a much more recent phenomenon, starting with the cremation of a monumental sculpture at the 2006 Burning Man festival in Nevada. Next came two public installations in Brussels in which he used multiple kinds of wood, even scrap wood, in electric colours, a recurring theme in his work.

On notoriety and the success of an artist, he says that it’s the result of work. “I believe that often big artists, particularly artists today, have to be not just risk-takers but also entrepreneurs. Otherwise, there’s no growth. Things get done through teamwork, like for Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst or Anish Kapoor. It’s the individual fire within that has to be shared with a team, because no one’s doing us any favours. When I’m in the shower, I tell myself that I’m rich and I’m ready to start everything over again. My battle has only just begun.” His next destination is Shanghai, where he has been invited to produce a large-scale sculpture, this time a permanent one. “It’s a really inspiring city. Europe is turning into a museum—pretty soon you’ll need to buy admission tickets—but China is the opposite. They are always up for an adventure, and they are ready for change. I marvel at that kind of vision.”

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This report was made possible thanks to:
Brussels International – Tourism & Congress
www.brusselsinternational.be