La Butte aux Bois Lupine Sculpture

Arne Quinze and his team had the pleasure of installing the Lupine Sculpture in the garden of his dear friend Jochen Leen. The setting, La Butte aux Bois, is not only a beautifully curated garden but also a renowned high-end hotel and spa, making it the perfect place for the sculpture to bridge the realms of art, nature, and luxury.

Jochen, a remarkable figure in the world of protoplanetary meteorites, has been collaborating closely with Quinze for some time. His extraordinary collection, which includes the Murchison meteorite—one of the oldest known objects in existence, predating even the Earth at 7.2 billion years old—served as the foundation for Quinze’s exhibition Are We The Aliens_ at the 2024 Venice Biennale. This show, realized in collaboration with Swizz Beatz and curated by Here Michaeloff of Louis Vuitton and Shai Baitel, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, was a testament to the intersection of art and the cosmos.

For Quinze, creating an artwork that exists in harmony with its environment is always a challenge. Yet, when he sees the Lupine Sculpture standing in the pond at La Butte aux Bois, it appears as if it has grown naturally from the surrounding plants—standing out in its own unique way while still belonging to the landscape.

The Lupine Sculpture is deeply personal to Quinze, reflecting his enduring connection with the Wild Lupine Flower—an exceptionally vibrant and resilient species he has encountered throughout his travels. This flower, which thrives in diverse ecosystems but struggles in monocultures, has become his signature and a symbol of his vision for a more varied and thriving society.

Quinze firmly believes that the diversity found in nature should extend to urban environments. His work questions humanity’s increasing detachment from the natural world, striving to restore balance by showcasing both nature’s formidable strength and its delicate fragility. Through his art, he seeks to inspire people to reconnect with their roots and embrace their identity as earthlings once again.