ART CITIES:London-Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis, was one of the leading figures in the Arte Povera Movement, he had abandoned painting as a medium and had embraced an art made of everyday materials. He used wool, coal, iron, stones, earth, cacti, wood and even flames and live animals. Some writers have suggested that Kounellis’ choice of materials relate to the mythology and trading life of Ancient Greeks.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Almine Rech Gallery Archive

Comprising works Jannis Kounellis made between 1960 and 2014, the exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery in London intends to act as an extensive overview of the Artist’s career. Jannis Kounellis was born in Piraeus, Greece in 1936. World War II and the Greek civil war (1946-49) were backdrops to his childhood. After he was rejected by the Athens School of Fine Art, Jannis Kounellis moved to Rome in 1956, where he enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti. While still a student, Kounellis was given his first exhibition, “L’Alfabeto di Kounellis” at the Galleria La Tartaruga. There he exhibited monochrome works featuring large stencilled letters. Belonging to this series is “Untitled” (1960), a work consisting of the letter Z repeated three times over. Referencing both the alphabetical signifiers and typefaces used on merchant ships for packaged cargo, Kounellis’ “Alfabeti” (Alphabet Paintings), are also concerned with the street signage the artist would have been exposed to in Rome, as can be noted in “Remo” (1961). Decontextualising a letter, number or symbol through isolation, and placing it onto a white support, Kounellis’ intention was to focus the viewer’s attention on these marks, as if, by populating a surface, they were floating away, being cast adrift. In 1963, as the “Alfabeti” had become a recognised style, Kounellis began working with landscapes, and drawing his reference points from the physical world. This can be seen in “Black Rose” (1965-66), this work emerges as a pivotal example of Kounellis’ role as a founding father of Arte Povera. Its organic shape is presented in matt black, reflecting Kounellis’ sculptural practice in painterly form. Compositionally, the work draws from the alchemical classification of elements, namely of fire, as well as demonstrating Arte Povera’s drive to abandon colour, perceived by Kounellis as alien to the context of post-war Italy. Acting as a testimony to Jannis Kounellis’ interest in everyday materials to denote natural elements, “Untitled” (1991), is made out of a lightbulb, steel and lead, the first and oldest metal in alchemy, and a symbol of purification. In a dialogue with ancient scientific teachings and centuries-old systems of belief, Kounellis can be observed transcribing these cultures into his own visual language, one which places him in direct conversation with artists such as Cy Twombly, Joseph Beuys, Giuseppe Penone, amongst many others who, with him, had worked since the 1950s on creating a new approach to artmaking, following the Second World War. Characteristic of Kounellis’ installation practice, two steel and coal works from 2013 and 2014 demonstrate the artist’s exploration around the weight of energy points and how these may impact space. Indeed, the piles of coal framed by Kounellis’ identifiable steel supports also function as a link to notions of smoke, an ever-present subject in his practice, as well as fire and industry. A link can also be seen between these two works and Kounellis’ personal relationship with the sea and with peripatetic travelling, specifically the Homeric notion of Nostos. The exhibition is completed with a further three works from 2014. Featuring jute, red oil and painted eggshell respectively, these artworks are concerned with the juxtaposition of precariousness and fragility with the robust iron surface which they are each comprised of. These works, which are amongst Kounellis’ final ones conjure ideas of creation and destruction, and see the artist continue in his pursuit for art in everyday life.

Info: Almine Rech Gallery, Grosvenor Hill, Broadbent House, London, Duration: 28/5-27/7/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, www.alminerech.com