Jannis Kounellis: 5 works

'Jannis Kounellis--co-founder of the arte povera movement in Italy in the 1960s--uses objects from everyday life and nature which are condensed to symbolic gestures. Especially created for the MAK, he developed a room installation with the title Il sarcofago degli sposi.'

'Kounellis also admired Yves Klein, and like Klein he was interested in the idea of an immaterial void or spiritual dimension to which humanity might aspire.'

'Kounellis's late period, to which this work belongs, saw a syncretic return to the vocabulary developed over the previous decades.'

'Among his earliest iconic works is Senza titolo (Carboniera) (Untitled (Coal container)) (1967) -- a square iron container on the floor filled with a pile of coal, reminiscent of the history of the monochrome and in particular of Kasimir Malevich's Black Square of the early twentieth century.'

'Jannis Kounellis presents an installation where coats, sacks and iron girders form a relationship.'