Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn unveiled a new sculpture at Ca’ Sagredo Hotel during this year’s Venice Biennale. “Support,” an enormous sculptural installation that appears to emerge out of the Grand Canal, appears as enormous, white hands. The work aims to display how humans have the ability and opportunity to “change and re-balance the world around them.” In particular, the hands are commenting on the urgency of climate change.
“Reflecting on the two sides of human nature, the creative and the destructive, as well as the capacity for humans to act and make an impact on history and the environment, Quinn addresses the ability for humans to make a change and re-balance the world around them – environmentally, economically, socially,” Halcyon Gallery says. “Support sees Quinn reflect on and readdress these global issues by echoing the meticulous execution and technique of the Masters of the past to create a powerful and unique sculpture … ”
The hands are reportedly crafted from polyurethane foam covered by a resin and weigh 5,000 pounds each. Pillars, at nearly 30 feet long, are used to anchor the pieces to the floor of the canal.
America, supposedly the land of freedom and democracy, has become incarceration nation. Almost one out of every hundred Americans is now in prison, the largest percentage of any developed country in the world. Artist Gil Batle was born in the Philippines, but he spent over 20 years of his life in the prisons of California. One would think that prison is punishment enough, but as Batle discovered, inmates also face violence, humiliation, and racial segregation. His saving grace was his ability to draw.
Los Angeles-based 
A veritable escape from reality, 