Fondazione Volume! celebrates itself with Kounellis’ comeback

At the beginning there was Kounellis. Today, after 15 years, the Greek artist comes back with a site-specific work to celebrate the birthday of Fondazione Volume!.  An old wardrobe is the connection with the past. It’s the container that replaced the pregnant woman in the 1998 performance. The furniture is situated exactly in the same place of 15 years ago but now, in front of it, there is a chair with a stone. All around, in different rooms, there are iron sheets – as big as a double bed – that recall industrial contexts and other objects that in turn echo a domestic environment. The metal plates are sewn with a cord: an embroidery that imitates weavers’ work and cuts the iron. In the first room there is a pile of coal as interlude between the embroidered sheets. All these objects are recurring in Kounellis’ art. He uses concrete items that have smell and weight. They lie deliberately opposed to a widespread virtuality in art. So it should be possible to say that Kounellis keeps a strong connection with tradition, albeit remaining a cutting edge author. A painter without the easel, he paints in the space using the iron and the other items as palette and brush strokes.

Jannis Kounellis at Fondazione Volume!, Rome, through November 29, 2013

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!, Rome, picture by Federico Ridolfi

 

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!, Rome, picture by Federico Ridolfi

 

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!, Rome, picture by Simon d’Exéa

 

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!

Jannis Kounellis, Fondazione Volume!, Rome, picture by Guido Gazzilli

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by Federica Salzano
in News

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