Jannis Kounellis, 1936 - 2017

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1969

Jannis Kounellis died 16 February 2017.
Kounellis was a key figure in Arte Povera, a movement which flourished in the late 1960s through to the 1970s. Arte Povera was a term coined by Italian art critic Germano Celant; it means, literally, 'poor art' - 'poor' in the sense of using everyday, commonplace or 'raw' materials. In Kounellis' case this included, for example, wood, coal, sacking, steel, wool and fire. However, his most notorious works were, perhaps, those employing horses (Untitled - an installation of 12 horses first presented in Rome in 1969 and reprised on various occasions, most recently in New York in 2015) and live birds, such as the macaw perched in front of a grey, monochrome panel as part of Untitled, 1967.
However, more typically, Kounellis' installations featured steel shelving units, blocked doorways and windows and the juxtaposition of contrasting materials to effect a poetic transformation of the architectural space so that the viewer's perception of the materiality of the world is enriched.
Read an obituary by Christopher Masters.

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1960

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1967

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1967 (detail)

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1968

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1969

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1969

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2014

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled,2014

Jannis Kounellis, gallery installation 2014

Jannis Kounellis, Dodecafonia, installation  in the deconsecrated church of Sant’Andrea de Scaphis, 2015