a former industrial site like the pomodoro foundation
(once a turbine production plant) is perfect for hosting
sculptures by the greek artist jannis kounellis.
kounellis is one of the founding figures of the
‘arte povera’ movement.
his career dates back to 1958, and almost fifty years
later, a combination of new projects (done in situ)
with some of his ‘historical’ creations are shown.

jannis kounellis broke with painting in favor of
sculptural and performance art. he has adopted the
idea that art should be replaced by life itself.
from 1969 onward, burlap, iron, cotton, parrots and
cactuses are joined by stone and wood, coffee, fire,
plaits of hair, eggs, rope, rats, beetles, crows,
beans and all sorts of grain, gold, smoke, mattresses
and sewing machines...
with this expanded lexicon kounellis begins to concoct
more complex combinations, in an obvious attempt to
tell us something.
in his work ordinary materials and objects are imbued
with dramatic power, evoking history, memory and
the reality of our present day experience.

the consciousness of the metamorphosis of the
painter into a poet seems to shimmer through in
kounellis’ flirting with theatre and opera: as when he
calls his ‘installations’ ‘one-acts’.
the ‘one-icon-statements’ are replaced by
veritable narrative installations.
art critics and philosophers continue to stress the link
of kounellis' installations with the art of painting -
‘coals are to kounellis, what potatoes are to van gogh’.

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jannis kounellis

jannis kounellis was born in 1936 in piraeus, greece.
he studied art in athens until he moved to rome in
1956, where he enrolled in the ‘accademia di belle arti’.
in 1960, while still a student, he had his first solo show
‘l’alfabeto di kounellis’ at the ‘galleria la tartaruga’ in rome.
he exhibited black-and-white canvases
that demonstrated little painterliness; on their surfaces,
kounellis stenciled letters and numbers.
kounellis was influenced by artists like alberto burri,
luciano fontana, jackson pollock and franz kline.
during the late 1960’s kounellis began to use live
animals in his art (one of his best-known works
included 11 horses installed in a gallery).
in 1967, kounellis joined the italian ‘arte povera’ movement,
which involved using found objects and spaces.
gradually kounellis preferred historical (mostly industrial)
sites to gallery environments for his exhibitions.
as one of the major conceptual artists of our time,
kounellis’ work is part of the permanent collections of
numerous international museums.
jannis kounellis currently lives and works in rome.