Cheim & Read is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by
Greek-born, Italian artist Jannis Kounellis. This exhibition incorporates
the themes and concerns of Kounellis's best known work, while also
reacting to and engaging with the gallery as a unique space. Kounellis's
last gallery show with Cheim & Read was in 2006; he recently created an
installation for the gallery's booth at the ADAA Art Show in early March,
2013.
Kounellis was born in Piraeus, Greece in 1936. World War II and ten
years of civil war were backdrops to his childhood. In 1956, he moved to
Rome and by 1960 was an active member of the Arte Povera movement.
Kounellis has long combined art and history with the immediacy and
tangibility of the present. Since February, he has been in residency in
Brooklyn conceptualizing and making work for this exhibition; all of the
materials have been locally sourced.
Kounellis's multi-layered, eloquent installations juxtapose earthy
substances (i.e. coal, coffee, wool, iron, stone) with evocative objects
(such as sewing machines), producing theatrical tableaus in which "art"
collides with the "everyday." In this way, he attempts to deconstruct and
re-contextualize artistic and cultural hierarchies, challenging not only the
consumerist ideology of the art market but also the viewer's passive
gaze. His ongoing investigation of material, process and adaptability
references social and political concerns (commerce, agriculture, trade,
labor), while his use of personal artifacts (overcoats, hats, shoes)
sympathizes with the human condition, alluding to ideas of transience
and regeneration. Though performance-based and sculptural aspects of
his work are apparent, Kounellis identifies as a painter; his canvas is real
space. This sense of dimensionality was most famously demonstrated by
his 1969 exhibition of twelve live horses at Galleria L'Attico, in Rome; the
installation addressed the long history of equestrian representation
while profoundly transforming the viewer's experience. Kounellis's
classically-composed, landscape-like scenes are informed by his
thorough understanding of art history, narrative and myth. The inherent
tension between opposing elements (rigid/malleable, animate/immobile,
structured/formless), deepen the poetic resonance of his chosen
materials. As he has described: inorganic elements provide structure,
organic elements provide sensibility. This dichotomy culminates in
installations which are simultaneously pensive and engaged, meditative
and provocative, spontaneous and deliberate.
Kounellis lives and works in Rome. His first New York solo show was in
1972. Recently, he has had exhibitions at the Museum of Cycladic Art,
Athens, Greece (2012); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning,
Denmark (2009); the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (2007); the
MADRE Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, Italy
(2006); and the Galeria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy (2002),
among others. Kounellis's work is represented in many national and
international collections.
TEXT COURTESY OF:
Cheim & Read
547 West 25th Street New York, NY 10001
Telephone: (212) 242-7727 Fax: (212) 242-7737
gallery@cheimread.com
Gallery Hours
Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 6 pm
Contacts
John Cheim: Principal/Head of Exhibitions - john@cheimread.com
Howard Read: Principal/Partner - howard@cheimread.com
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