An umbrella or an embrace, love is shelter. Especially in the temperate rain forest, love can be two people getting close to stay out of the storm.
The image of an entwined couple, walking side by side under an umbrella in the Vancouver rain was one source of inspiration for Bruce Voyce, the Strathcona artist whose stainless steel sculpture will be the latest installation put in a public park.
Four 12- to 14-foot-tall statues of entwined figures, each holding an umbrella, will be installed at Queen Elizabeth Park as the designated place for couples to lock up their love. Selected as the park board’s love lock installation after an extensive review that considered 13 locations, Voyce’s Love in the Rain will become a destination for lovers who seek to secure their romantic intentions with a modern symbol of commitment: a padlock that has no key.
“I’m just delighted to make artwork about love,” said Voyce. “The art itself forms a kind of sacred place for love, and being a project completed by people with their love. A big part of this artwork is getting together and having people express their love — it’s more than just a sculpture. It will be interesting to see it come to life.”
Love lock installations started spontaneously in various European cities, including Paris, where lovers and spouses shut padlocks on the Pont des Arts and other bridges before tossing the key into the Seine River. Many locks are engraved with marriage dates and names of the besotted.
In response to what some cities, including Vancouver, considered vandalism to public property, municipalities from Moscow to Toronto have introduced public installations — as opposed to infrastructure such as fences — specifically for lovers and their locks. The park board is spending $50,000 on one for Vancouver.
But unlike a generic circular shape or letters that spell a word like “love,” Voyce said he was determined to create art that drew on the environment and added meaning to this city and its rainforest.
He did this with an umbrella, a metaphor that can be taken further since people also use one when the sun is out.
“Rain or shine, love has its moments of both joy and struggle. Whatever the weather, love will hold you together,” said Voyce. “That is where I was going with the artwork, to create something that gives an intimate space. Queen E Park is a nice, romantic place where people will be seen holding hands and you can hear the birds.”
Love in the Rain will feature four tall, separate, three-dimensional figures of embracing couples of indistinct gender, race and culture. The lower-half garments on the figures will be crafted as open, decorative filigree and made from stainless steel so locks made of various alloy metals will not react, rot or rust.
The skirts of the four figures will support several thousand locks, according to information from the park board. Keys can be deposited in a box on site with the intent they will be melted down for use in a future sculpture.
“There will be a lot of surface area for people to attach locks to, lots of possibilities,” said Voyce, whose extensive, large-scale public installations explore the intersection of humanity, technology and the inevitable return to nature.
Voyce said he is proud to offer couples a new ritual they can add to their shared experience and memory, a public expression of private sentiment that will transform the more it’s used.
“Each person has their own story they will be adding to the artwork,” he said. “Interactive artwork can transform a group of people into people who are communicating and interacting on a different level. It’s just wonderful.”
Love in the Rain will be installed at Queen Elizabeth Park in August.
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