Lorenzo Quinn’s Give & Take III unveiled in Berkeley Square, London

Lorenzo Quinn’s monumental bronze sculpture Give & Take III, measuring almost four metres high, was unveiled on Wednesday in Berkeley Square, London. The piece, which will be resident in the square for the next six months, forms part of Lorenzo’s major new solo exhibition, Equilibrium, which opened at Mayfair’s Halcyon Gallery, 24 Bruton Street, on Wednesday. Give and Take III will spend six months on public display in Berkeley Square until May 2010.



Celebrating the opening of this important show, Halcyon Gallery will host a "Meet the Artist" day on Saturday 21 November, with Lorenzo Quinn discussing the inspiration for his new work, his poetry and his vision. This is a chance to meet one of today's finest sculptors.



Quinn’s works are internationally acclaimed. Major commissions include the United Nations, the Vatican and a sculpture for Bacardi to honour the hometown of its founder in Sitges, Spain. His cultural influence has been recognised in an iconic advert for Absolut Vodka, entitled Absolut Lorenzo, part of a campaign featuring celebrated international artists. Quinn has received widespread success in the highly regarded Middle Eastern art market. Highlights include his iconic sculpture Rise Through Education in Doha, Qatar (2005) and a new commission to create an Olympic Tower, to be unveiled in Doha in 2010.

For Equilibrium, Quinn has created new pieces including What Came First?, Love and Home Sweet Home. What Came First? depicts male and female forms, each within an egg-shaped marble hemisphere, displaying the sculptor’s rich figurative symbolism at its finest.

The Love series of kinetic sculptures features paired hands, a recurring theme in Quinn’s work, representing the four stages of a relationship. Hypnotic and graceful, the works evoke the hands of strolling lovers. Considered the greatest challenge for an artist depicting the human form, for Quinn hands convey the intimacy of human interaction in a simple, powerful way.



In Home Sweet Home, he uses the female form cocooned in barbed wire to represent the claustrophobia and isolation of victims of domestic abuse. Quinn and his wife are active in their work for charities supporting victims of domestic abuse.

Accompanied by his most popular works such as Adam and Eve, Force of Nature and the massive Hand of God, Equilibrium presents an oeuvre of work mature in style and demonstrative of Quinn’s visceral empathy and technical accomplishment.

Poetry, family and society all feed into the creative process of his work and the immediate emotional response his works produce mirror this heart-felt input. Quinn said: “My inspiration comes from the everyday life, books or poems that I read, from my encounters with people and from my own experiences; sculpture is a part of who I am. I feel honoured and proud to be working with Halcyon Gallery to put together this major exhibition and to share my work with the world.”



Paul Green, President of Halcyon Gallery commented: “This exhibition is a culmination of our decade-long partnership with Lorenzo Quinn, and Equilibrium is validation of his growing status. We are also delighted that his celebrated piece ‘Give and Take III’ will be accessible to all Berkeley Square visitors until May 2010.”

For further information on Quinn or the "Meet the Artist" session visit www.halcyongallery.com

Images Credits:
Lorenzo Quinn unveils Give & Take III in Berkeley Square(By Getty)
Lorenzo Quinn's Give & Take III in Berkeley Square
Finding Love, Lorenzo Quinn
Love (2m), Lorenzo Quinn

Lorenzo Quinn’s monumental bronze sculpture Give & Take III, measuring almost four metres high, was unveiled today in Berkeley Square. The piece, which will be resident in the square for the next six months, forms part of Lorenzo’s major new solo exhibition, Equilibrium, which opens at Mayfair’s Halcyon Gallery, 24 Bruton Street, today.

See New Works of Art For Free

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2009 showcases some of the best new talent to hit the gallery walls this year. The artists were selected independently by six prominent figures from the art world: two artists,two collectors, two critics.



Among the selectors this year were collectors Peter Bowles and Lawrence Llewelyn
Bowen; Financial Times Art Critic Jackie Wullschlager; Keeper of the Word and
Image Department at the V&A, Julius Bryant; Royal Academician, Gus Cummins and
artist Lincoln Seligman.



Each selector has curated one section of the exhibition, drawing their own selection from works submitted by the public and the works of artists they have personally invited to exhibit.

The uniqueness of having each work chosen by an eminent individual, unlike in a group selected show, has earned the exhibition an excellent reputation among art lovers and collectors alike. The works of lesser-known artists are given the opportunity to hang alongside the work of more established artists helping to connect hundreds of new artists with new audiences.


ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2009 at the Mall Galleries, London SW1
Until 22nd November 2009. Admission Free.
www.discerningeye.org

Image credits: (c) the artists
Fujii, Atsuko - Asparagus with red string
Kessling, Kate - Thirty-Six-Guineas

Malcolm Middleton's New Tour

Sorry, I know that I've been silent for the past few days. I've been busy with our deadline, and in fact, I am busy now, but I wanted to take a few minutes to write this. I am a HUGE Malcolm Middleton fan. It reminds me of our very first office, I listened to him over and over again, finding new things with each turn.

We'll Mr Middleton is back this winter with a series of intimate evenings. Malcolm will perform a collection of comforting wintry acoustic songs about love, hate, death, and other stuff.



A unique voice among the dirge of singer-songwriters, Malcolm Middleton balances a fragile mix of self-doubt, humour and wry observations on the human condition. Few current singer songwriters can claim to be as prolific – or as focused – as Middleton in the past five years, averaging a release a year.

Prone to self-deprecation - listen to any given lyric for proof - Middleton issued a statement saying Waxing Gibbous would likely be his last solo album for a while. Needless to say, reports of his creative death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

“I am not giving up music, retiring, dying, stopping song-writing, or becoming optimistic, content or anything else along these lines. All I've said is that I'd like to try some other musical projects before I return to doing more solo albums in the future. I fancy a change and I need something new. I want to do an instrumental acoustic guitar album, some electronic music, some collaborations, maybe start a new band, produce someone else etc,” he says.

It will be interesting to see what's next for MM.

Anyway, if he's at a venue near you, I'd pop down. Really, I would.

NOVEMBER

Tue 24 LONDON Bush Hall
Wed 25 BRIGHTON Hanbury Club
Thu 26 NORWICH Arts Centre
Sat 28 EXETER Phoenix Voodoo Lounge
Sun 29 OXFORD Jericho
Mon 30 CARDIFF Barfly

DECEMBER

Tue 01 CAMBRIDGE Junction 2
Wed 02 BRISTOL Thekla
Mon 07 NEWCASTLE Cluny 2
Tue 08 YORK Basement
Wed 09 WAKEFIELD The Hop
Thu 10 GLASGOW Oran Mor


www.malcolmmiddleton.co.uk