Untitled

The theme of the journey had multiple meanings for Jannis Kounellis: the geographical movement of travelers, the journey of memories, and existential exploration. The artist imagined his condition as one of a wanderer. The burlap sacks are tied to ideas of maritime commerce as are the metal hooks, which are the same ones used for transporting commodities to ports like Piraeus, the port city of Athens where the artist was born. At the same time, the coat, which belonged to the artist, is a personal item of clothing that references travelers. The used coat evokes a body in absentia. The size and presence of human beings were crucial to Kounellis. Each of the three panels that compose the work is the standard size of a double bed, which the artist referenced as a dimension of human life. It constitutes part of Kounellis’s personal iconography and frequently appeared in his work.