Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn has designed six pairs of monumental stone hands bridging the basin of the Arsenale at this year's Venice Art Biennale, Italy. The giant hands address to both a symbol of our commonality and an expression of human aspiration. 

The 58th International Art Exhibition of Venice Art Biennale opened its doors on May 11 and it will be on view until Sunday November 24, 2019, at the Giardini and the Arsenale. 

This year's theme is "May You Live In Interesting Times": the artworks presented at the exhibition will serve "as a kind of guide for how to live and think in interesting times." The exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff and organised by Venice Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta. 

Image © David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Halcyon Art International

Addressing to this year's theme, Quinn's installation, named Building Bridges, depicts six of humanity’s universal values: friendship, faith, help, love, hope and wisdom – each symbolised by human hands coming together to overcome differences and build a better world. The installation spans 20 meters in width and 15 meters in height resembling the famous bridges that empower the cities. 

Image © David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Halcyon Art International

"Famous as a city of connections through its canals and crossings, as an historic base of international trade, and as an ongoing hub of artistic exchange – Venice, a World Heritage Site with visitors from all over the globe, is an ideal place to spread a message of unity connecting societies, nations, communities and individuals through building bridges, not walls," said the artist.

Image © David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Halcyon Art International

The artists explore each term with his own sentences below: 

Friendship means the solemnity of two palms touching gently but firmly creates a symmetry expressing a state of trust and support, based on mutual experience and looking ahead to a future together. Wisdom represents the meeting of hands young and old evoking knowledge and understanding crossing generations, while Help means the connection of two hands symbolising both empathy and understanding in a state of physical, emotional and moral support that builds lasting relationships. 

Faith means the grasp of a tiny hand clutching a parent’s fingers in blind faith is a reminder of the responsibility to nurture our younger generation to grow in confidence, self-worth and dependability.

Hope represents the initial joining of interlaced fingers represents optimism for the future. Hope gives us the strength to persevere in worthwhile endeavours when all appears lost, while Love attributes to the tightly interlocked fingers suggesting the intensity of bodies clinging to one another in passionate devotion; the physical manifestation of a state of being that is fundamental to us all.

Contemporary Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn is a world-renowned sculptor, particularly noted for his deft use of hands to convey authentic emotion and abstract concepts such as love and faith. 

"I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body," he asserted. 

"The hand holds so much power – the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy." Exhibited internationally, both his monumental public art and the smaller, more intimate pieces transmit his passion for depicting eternal values and authentic emotions.

The exhibition will be on view until Sunday November 24, 2019, at the Giardini and the Arsenale. The Exhibition is divided into two separate presentations, Proposition A in the Arsenale and Proposition B in the Giardini’s Central Pavilion, comprising 79 artists from all over the world.

All images courtesy of Halcyon Art International unless otherwise stated. 

> via Venice Art Biennale