Take a walk along the Poniente promenade in Benidorm, the wavy, multi-coloured one which won an award for its innovative design and you will come across yet another stylish art installation. This isn´t the first time that the town has bought art to the streets, and it certainly gets walkers, out on their daily exercise stopping to admire and photograph the striking pieces.
Last summer the main avenida Mediterraneo and space in front of the town hall was adorned with 14 very colourful Galaxia Hung sculptures of animals, by the Taiwanese artist Hung Yi. They all left but one of his pieces remained – a pair of swans which had moved to the Poniente prom.
Now they are joined by a new collection from a contemporary sculptor, painter and artist called Arne Quinze. He is a conceptual artist best known for his unconventional and sometimes, controversial public art installations, where he challenges the greyness and dullness of the environments we live in – his works are built to provoke reaction and start conversations.
In his late teens he started out as a grafitti artist in Brussels yet he never completed a formal art education. He has exhibited across the world – in Paris, Luxembourg, Los Angeles, the Saatchi Gallery in London, Munich, Shanghai, Valencia – and can now add Benidorm to that list.
The collection of six sculptures is called “My Secret Garden” and was on display in Valencia at the Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciències ( Oceonographic ) and is based on the Mediterranean garden, focusing on the different themes of evolution, establishing a connection between art and science.
They are certainly a talking point, with many stopping to admire – if not work out, what the pieces symbolise. Each one is big – weighing between 650kg -1350kg and made of acrylic on aluminium and will remain in place until May next year. Something different!
