You’ve got to hand it to New Zealand artist Ronnie van Hout.
His public sculpture Quasi is part self-portrait, part oversized Thing from The Addams Family, and completely terrifying.
Perched atop City Gallery Wellington in the Kiwi capital, the 16-foot-tall hand-face statue looks like something out of Salvador Dalí’s nightmares.
Good luck sleeping tonight (via Elias Rodriguez/City Gallery Wellington)
A whopping 880 lbs. (that’s more than an adult moose), it was commissioned in 2016 for Christchurch Art Gallery, following a 2011 earthquake. (Though it remains unclear whether the intention was to mollify or horrify locals.)
“No longer required, it will haunt City Art Gallery’s roof this season, presiding over a Civic Square largely abandoned in the wake of our own 2016 quake,” according to the exhibition site.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No—Quasi has landed! This morning, Ronnie van Hout’s Quasi was installed on our roof. Quasi is a joint project with Wellington Sculpture Trust, with support from Wellington City Council, Wellington Community Trust, and Richard Burrell. pic.twitter.com/9MaHc9gB71
— CityGalleryWgtn (@CityGalleryWgtn) August 18, 2019
Give a big hand for Wellington’s newest resident.
Quasi, designed by artist Ronnie Van Hout, has been standing on Christchurch City Gallery since 2016 but will now call the City Gallery Wellington roof his new home pic.twitter.com/beNCqkbBv6
— Wellington NZ (@Wellington_NZ) August 19, 2019
Meaning “pseudo” or “fake,” the title Quasi is also a nod to the deformed bellringer in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”—a hideous monster with a heart of gold.
Van Hout’s creation is certainly living up to its name, inciting fear and inspiring comparisons to famous faces (which don’t typically adorn the back of a giant hand).
I finally clicked as to what #quasi reminds me of #showmewhatyougot pic.twitter.com/1JEbETtqPG
— Ruby Macandrew (@RubyMacandrew) August 20, 2019
Qasi stares a Trump like stare over Wellington! pic.twitter.com/NNiATLBrcf
— The Masked Trader (@Traderlinkup) August 19, 2019
Sir Winston Churchill?
—
Chris
Why does ita face look like Bill Clinton tho
— Melissa Rose (@Melzyrose90) August 19, 2019
Christchurch art critic Warren Feeney hated the statue (I’m sure he wasn’t the only one), penning a newspaper article on the “Ten Reasons Why Christchurch Art Gallery’s Quasi Must Go.”
He went so far as petitioning to banish it from his city.
Feeney got his wish. But not everyone is on board with the move.
Feeney eventually got his wish. But not everyone is on board with the move.
Wellington local Calliope Ryder told Newshub the sculpture gives her the feeling “a Lovecraftian nightmare has come to life.”
“It’s scarier than the Santa in Auckland,” she added, referring to the 59-foot-tall winking Father Christmas that appears every December in the city’s central business district.
Quasi remains on display until March 27.
It is expected to grace the City Gallery roof for up to three years.
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Source: https://www.geek.com/culture/new-zealands-giant-hand-sculpture-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares-1800732/?source
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Stephanie Mlot
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