EN
Jannis Kounellis, Athens, 2004. Photo: M. Baboussis
Jannis Kounellis, Athens, 2004. Photo: M. Baboussis

The work of Jannis Kounellis seems to openly defy the popular opinion about art, often leaving defined categories in its powerful wake. The diversity of his attempts to broaden the horizons of Expressionism contribute to the development of a genre which is, despite his well-known links to Arte Povera, clearly all his own. Typically, Kounellis makes use of materials which are alien to the field of arts in a classical sense. Raw elements like iron, gold and coal are combined with industrially produced objects. One finds that these unpredictable but simple materials have the ability to evoke sensations of temperature and touch, in addition to more complex connotations based on the viewers' personal experiences. The direct relationship between Kounellis' work and the surrounding space is a topic central to his installations.

Taking into consideration any pre-existing conditions, he allows the exhibition environment to be a part of the compositions. As for the work itself, by combining organic with industrial, permanent with transient, and light with heavy materials, Kounellis' creations are full of allusions which cannot be easily interpreted. Rather than offering pedantic narratives, he successfully creates impulses of thought for the observer. Thus, while walking through one of his thoughtfully-constructed exhibitions, one becomes gradually aware of the complexity of his references. Jannis Kounellis was born in 1936 in Piräus in the near of Athens, Greece. In 1956, he moved to Rome where he worked and lived until his death in 2017.

Exhibitions

Publications

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions
2022
Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA

2019-20
Jannis Kounellis, Early Works

Larkin Erdmann, Zurich, Switzerland

2018-19
Jannis Kounellis

Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy

2017-18
Jannis Kounellis

Carolina Nitsch Project Room, London, UK

2017-18
Kunst & Kohle. Hommage an Jannis Kounellis

Museum Küppersmuhle, Duisburg, Germany

2016
Jannis Kounellis

Centro de arte Wilfredo Lam, Havana, Cuba

2016
Jannis Kounellis

Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France

2016
Jannis Kounellis

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2016-17
Jannis Kounellis

The Negev Museum of Art, Be’er Sheva, Israel

2015
Jannis Kounellis

Galleria Christian Stein, Milan, Pero, Italy

2014
Jannis Kounellis

Sprovieri, London, UK

2014
Jannis Kounellis

Palazzo Vignola, Todi, Italy

2013
Jannis Kounellis

Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2013
Jannis Kounellis

Cheim & Read, New York, NY, USA

2013
Kounellis. Trieste

Salone degli Incanti, Trieste, Italy

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland

2012
Kounellis

Galleria Giorgio Persano, Turin, Italy

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Kunstmuseum Kloster unser lieben Frauen Magdeburg, Germany

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Artist Rooms, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

2012
Heritage Hunters

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Blain Southern, Berlin, Germany

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Museum am Dom, Würzburg, Germany

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Parasol unit, London, UK

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Blain Southern, Berlin, Germany

2012
Kounellis

Galleria Giorgio Persano, Turin, Italy

2012
Jannis Kounellis

Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece

2011
Program Passepartout led by Philippe Daverio, dedicated to Jannis Kounellis

in cooperation with Marino Gallery,China

2011
Kounellis. Tribute to Yves Klein’s Fire Paintings (1961)

Galerie Lelong, Paris, France

2011
Jannis Kounellis: Early paintings

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2011
Jannis Kounellis

Museum am Dom, Würzburg, Germany

2011
Translating China

Today Art Museum, Beijing, China

2011
Jannis Kounellis. S.T.

National Center For Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia

2011
Danza Della Morte

Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany

2011
Jannis Kounellis

Galeria Hilario Galguera, Leipzig, Germany

2011
Kounellis - feu / contre-feu – Klein

Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland

2011
Kounellis - feu / contre-feu – Klein

Galerie Lelong, Paris, France

2011
Jannis Kounellis

Museum Kurhaus, Kleve, Germany

Group exhibitions
2022
Something New, Something Old, Something Desired

Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
 

2022
Jannis Kounellis

GAM, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Turin, Torino, Italy

2022
Public Domain

MOMus Contemporary, Thessaloniki, Greece

2022
Naturecultures

Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy

2022
Vita Nuova: New challenges for art in Italy 1960-1975

MAMAC Nice, Nice, France

2021-22
Humans Nature Politics. Joseph Beuys in the Context of the Collection

 Haus Lange & Haus Esters Museum, Krefeld, Germany
 

2021-22
Grand Masters

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

Learn more
2020-21
Silent Revolutions: Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century

The Menil Collection, Museum District, Houston, TX, USA

2020-21
Outlooks on Art

Centro Botín, Santander, Spain
 

2019
Entrare nell'opera

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
 

2019
The Italian Collection

Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark

2019
Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA

2019
Paper Media: Boetti, Calzolari, Kounellis

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY, USA

2019
Children of Saturn

Rochechouart Museum of Contemporary Art, Rochechouart, France

 

2019-20
Entrare Nell'Opera: Enter Into The Work/Actions And Processes Of Arte Povera

MAMC Saint-Étienne, Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, France
 

2018
Inside the collection - Approaching thirty years of the Centro Pecci (1988-2018)

Centro Pecci, Prato, Italy

2018
Arte Povera. A Creative Revolution

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
 

2018-19
Beyond Borders

Fondation Boghossian, Brussels, Belgium

2017-18
Life into Art: Post-Dada Works from the Collection

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

2017
Winter Show

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2017
Pas de deux

Koblumba Museum, Cologne, Germany

2017
Spring Show

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2015
Codice Italia

Italian Pavillon, 56th International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2015
Brera contemporaneo

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy

2013
Die Bildhauer. Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, 1945 bis heute

K20 Grabbeplatz, Düsseldorf, Germany

2012
Oltre il muro

Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy

2012
Det mentale landskab

Bornholms Kunstmuseum, Gudhjem, Denmark

2012
Arte torna Arte

Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italie

2012
Arte povera. Der grosse Aufbruch

Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2012
Arte Povera

Neues Museum Weimar, Weimar, Germany

2012
L’Homme de Vitruve

Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry- le Credac, Ivry sur Seine, France

2012
Kunst. Wahrheit. Wirklichkeit

ZKM - Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany

2012
Juwelen im Rheingold - 10 Jahre Sammlung Rheingold

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

2012
La Collection Michael Werner

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France

2012
1st Kochi-Muziris Biennale

Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India

2012
The riches of Arte Povera

Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

2012
Asche und Gold Eine Weltenreise

Marta Herford, Herford, Germany

2012
Arte Informale – Arte Astratta

Galleria Centro Steccata, Parma, Italy

2012
New Contemporary Galleries - John Caldor Family Collection

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

2012
Selecciones de la Colección del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao II

Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, Bilbao, Spain

2012
Arte Povera: Der grosse Aufbruch – Boetti, Kounellis, Merz, Pistoletto aus der Sammlung Goetz

Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2012
Art is Liturgy

Kolumba, Cologne, Germany

2012
Theatre Of The World

Mona - Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Australia

2012
The Cross Shown

NUOVA GALLERIA MORONE, Milan, Italy

2012
Beaufort04

Beaufort Triennale, Oostende, Belgium

2012
Arte Povera in città

GAMeC - Galleria d´Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy

2011
CLAP

Hessel Museum of Art & Center for Curatorial Studies Galleries at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA

2011
Che Fare? Arte Povera. Die historischen Jahre

Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria

2011
Zettels Traum

Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany

2011
Il Santo Momento / Der heilige Augenblicke

Museum am Dom, Würzburg, Germany

2011
New Contemporary Galleries - John Caldor Family Collection

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

2011
Chefs-d'œuvre modernes et contemporains

Les Abattoirs de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

2011
7 anni - 7 scultori 2004 – 2011

Galleria Il Ponte, Florence, Italy

2011-12
Art and Press - Kunst. Wahrheit. Wirklichkeit

Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

2011-12
Asche und Gold Eine Weltenreise

Marta Herford, Herford, Germany

2011
Arte Povera 1967 - 2011

La Triennale di Milano, Design Museum, Milan, Italy

2011
Omaggio all’Arte Povera

MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy

2011
Arte povera 1968

MAMbo - Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Italy

2011
TRA. The edge of becoming

Museo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

2011
Danza Della Morte

Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany

2011
Afinidad & Diferencia

Sala Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

2011
Arte Povera Alla Gnam

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (GNAM), Rome, Italy

2011
Arte Povera 1967 - 2011

La Triennale di Milano, Design Museum, Milan, Italy

2011
The Last Grand Tour

Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece

2011
Schönheit und Vergänglichkeit

Essl Museum - Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg, Germany

2011
I hate Paul Klee (Papierarbeiten und Künstlerbücher aus der Sammlung Speck)

Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany

2011
Cambio de paradigma - Colección Serralves años 60 - 70

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Léon, Spain

2011
Arte povera 1968

MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

2011
4th Guangzhou Triennial - Back to Basics

The Museum Per Se, Guangdong, China

2011
Construyendo una Colección -una interpretación de la Colección Fundación Botín

Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain

2011
TRA. The edge of becoming

Museo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

2011
Ileana Sonnabend: An Italian Portrait

Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2011
Welttheater. Die Sammlung Migros Museum Für Gegenwartskunst

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

2011
Alla luce della Croce - Arte antica e contemporanea a confronto

Galleria d'Arte Moderna Raccolta Lercaro, Bologna, Italy

2011
Selecciones de la Colección del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao II

Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, Bilbao, Spain

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