Jannis Kounellis
(Pireaeus 1936 - Rome, 2017)
Jannis Kounellis moves to Rome in 1956, where he attends the Accademia di Belle Arti. In 1960, Kounellis debuts with a solo exhibition at Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome entitled L’Alfabeto di Kounellis, where he exhibits for the first time the series Segnali: typographical signs on light background that alludes to the invention of a new order for a crumpled and crushed language.From 1963 the artist definitively abandons the traditional artistic representation and began to use materials such as jute bags, wool, gold, earth, fire, and occasionally plants, live animals and people. Kounellis' paintings, sculptures, installations and performances encourage a new fruition of the artwork, so as to fully involve the public. The artist has been associated since the beginnings to Arte Povera, in fact in 1967 he took part in the pivotal exhibition of the movement: Arte Povera - Im Spazio, curated by Germano Celant, at Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa. Since the Seventies Kounellis has developed in his artistic research a tragic and personal relationship with the culture, history and history of art.
Among the most significant exhibtions, we can mention: L’Alfabeto di Kounellis, Galleria La Tartaruga (Rome, 1961); When Attitudes Become Form (Bern, 1969); Venice Biennale (Venice, 1972-1974-1976-1978-1980-1982-1984-1988-1993-2011-2015); Jannis Kounellis, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg (Mönchengladbach, 1978); Identitè Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, Centre Pompidou (Paris, 1981); Documenta 7 (Kassel, 1982); New art at the Tate Gallery, Tate Gallery (London, 1983); Allegories of modernism: contemporary drawing, MoMA (New York, 1992); Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968, Guggenheim Museum (New York, 1994); Kounellis, Museo MADRE (Naples, 2006); Jannis Kounellis, Museum of Modern Art Saint’Etienne (Saint’Etienne, 2014); Brut(e), La Monnaie (Paris, 2016); Roma Anni ’60: No – Pop, Galleria Erica Ravenna (Rome, 2017); Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Prada (Venice, 2019).
