Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (metal boxes, curtain, mirrors, four musical scores engraved on iron, person holding a plaster mask, flutist playing music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), 1972. The Sonnabend Collection Foundation. Image courtesy Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo: Claudio Abate. ©2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1974. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Photo: Courtesy Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. ©2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1968. Courtesy the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas. ©2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.
Jannis Kounellis, Lunedì, Martedì, Mercoledì, 1963. Courtesy the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas. ©2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1982. Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Photo: Courtesy Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. ©2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled 1960 (enamel on linen), 1960. Olnick Spanu Collection, New York. Image Courtesy of Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo: Manolis Babousis 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris;  Manolis Babousis
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled 1961/1963 , 1961/1963. Private collection, Rome. Image Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1968 (white canvas, burlap sacks), 1968. Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati Collection, Lugano, Switzerland. Image Courtesy of Studiopagi.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (Notte) , 2015. Private collection, Rome. Image Courtesy the Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo: Manolis Babousis, 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris; and Manolis Babousis.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1993 (iron rod, hanging iron shelves, sulfur), 1993. The George Economou Collection. Image Courtesy of the Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo by Manolis Babousis 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris; and Manolis Babousis.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1993 (sails), 1993. Courtesy Christine König Galerie, Vienna. Image Courtesy of Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo by Claudio Abate.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1996 (five steel plates, enamel on paper, iron, five panels), 1996. Private collection, Rome. Image Courtesy of the Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo by Mario Gastinger.
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2013 (three steel plates, glassware, metal shelves), 2013. Private collection, Rome. Image Courtesy the Estate of Jannis Kounellis. Photo by Mario Gorgoni.

The wide-ranging work of artist Jannis Kounellis (Greece, 1936–2017) is the subject of this major exhibition organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and Museo Jumex, Mexico City. This presentation is the first retrospective to be presented in North America in more than 35 years.

Kounellis played a central role in the Italian Arte Povera movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and has had a broad influence on subsequent generations of artists around the world. The exhibition includes some 50 works and offers the most comprehensive assessment of his career to date. Assembled with the full cooperation of the artist’s estate and featuring a host of international loans, the presentation revisits Kounellis’s innovative practice through key stages of his career over five decades, examining both iconic works and pieces rarely or never-before seen.

Though his art is mostly defined by sculpture, installation, and performance, Kounellis nonetheless referred to his works as paintings, even as his art has sought to break down and transcend the medium’s boundaries. “Everything I do is painting, even if I don’t touch a brush,” he said. “I tell my truth as a painter.” The exhibition Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts and its accompanying catalogue present the artist in a way he wanted to be seen—through a consideration of his work as an expansive and deep analysis of painting as a medium.

Foregrounding the artist’s innovative use of materials, the exhibition is presented in six thematic sections that consider key developments and themes in Kounellis’s practice. Included are examples from his iconic Alphabet series (1959–1961), featuring large works on canvas or paper depicting letters, signs, and symbols. Another section highlights major works made from accumulations of organic materials such as wool, seeds, stones, and burlap fabric. A third part explores hybrid works combining painting with performance, which played a major role in the artist’s production of the mid-1970s.

Also featured are sculptural projects that show Kounellis’s deep relationship to history through his poetic use of found items—fragments of classical sculpture, furniture, and objects or natural materials—presented in carefully composed groupings. The exhibition culminates with several large-scale installations based on experiences of memory and the senses.

Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts is accompanied by a major publication, the first comprehensive assessment of the artist’s work to be assembled by a US museum. The richly illustrated volume, which contains many never-published archival materials, is produced by the Walker’s award-winning design studio. The catalogue features essays by exhibition curators Vincenzo de Bellis, curator and associate director of programs, Visual Arts, Walker Art Center; and Kit Hammonds, chief curator at Museo Jumex, Mexico City; Ara H. Merjian, professor of Italian Studies at New York University; and Claire Gilman, chief curator at the Drawing Center, New York; as well as a selection of the artist’s writings, selected by Archivio Kounellis president Michelle Coudray and edited by Walker curatorial assistant William Hernández Luege.

Curatorial Team

Vincenzo de Bellis, curator and associate director of programs, Visual Arts, Walker Art Center; and Kit Hammonds, chief curator at Museo Jumex, Mexico City; with William Hernández Luege, curatorial assistant, Visual Arts, Walker Art Center

Exhibition Tour

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis: October 14, 2022–February 26, 2023
Museo Jumex, Mexico City: April 1–September 17, 2023

Attendance Requirements

Masks are strongly encouraged inside the museum for all visitors ages 2 and older regardless of vaccination status. On Free First Saturdays and Sensory Friendly Sundays, we require visitors ages 2 and older to wear face masks inside the building to support the safety and comfort of families and attendees.

If you have questions or require additional assistance, please email orders@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7600.

Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts is organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and Museo Jumex, Mexico City.

The Walker’s presentation is made possible by generous support from Carlo Bronzini Vender, the Fisher Family, Karen and Ken Heithoff, Donna and Jim Pohlad, the Pohlad Family, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Danniel Rangel, Giorgio Spanu and Nancy Olnick, and Susan and Rob White. The exhibition catalogue, produced by the Walker Art Center, has been generously supported by Gladstone Gallery, Sprovieri Gallery, Rosina Lee Yue, and a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of Walker Art Center publications.

Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts

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