Kounellis - Hardcover

Moure, Gloria

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847812413 ISBN 13: 9780847812417

Publisher: Rizzoli, 1990

Working in Rome since 1956, Greek artist Jannis Kounellis (born 1936) was a seminal contributor to the Arte Povera group. Kounellis began his career as a painter; influenced by Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana, he explored the boundaries of the medium and by 1963 was using found elements in his practice. Often monumental in scale, the artist's work unites ancient Greek themes with "poor" materials such as iron, wool, gold, jute sacks, coal, fire and even, controversially, live animals. One of his best-known works from the late 1960s incorporated 11 horses installed in the gallery. Published in conjunction with an exhibition in Bari, Italy, this monograph examines some of the artist's recent monumental evocations and explorations of the human figure and other sculptures alongside past works.

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Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

From Library Journal:

This book of photographs of contemporary art installations features three major exhibits by Jannis Kounellis (b. Piraeus, 1936) in Barcelona (1989), Bordeaux (1985), and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (1986). Mary Jane Jacobs, curator of the installations in Chicago (where sites included several old factory and warehouse buildings) contributes the most intelligible of the six essays here. The book includes Kounellis's complete poetry and prose writings. His sculptural installations in industrial buildings often feature the walling-in of doorways and windows with stones, wood fragments, burlap sacks, wire mesh, and iron panels, or the placement on the floor of objects (e.g., thousands of crystal glasses of grappa with lead shapes laid on top). One memorable work consisted of 12 live horses tethered in a room; another had freshly butchered sides of beef hung against the walls. Photographs (many by Claudio Abate) document the installations, some of which feature the artist's face or body. For contemporary art collections.
- Kathleen Collins, Great Barrington, Mass.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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