Jannis Kounellis

On display at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, in La Habana, Jannis Kounellis creates spaces based on places and contexts different every time.

The direct use of materials considered extra pictorial, makes Jannis Kounellis use forms, colors and characteristic scents of natural or technological primary elements, transforming them into poetic energies through imagination mechanisms, of mythology, culture, classic and religious ideals, and passion.

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, chairs, wardrobe pieces diameter 315 cm, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana. Photo Oak Taylor-Smith — **Top:** Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, Site-specific work for Cuba, 2015. Courtesy: the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / La Habana. Photo Paola Martinez Fiterre. **Above:** Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, chairs, wardrobe pieces diameter 315 cm, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / La Habana. Photo Oak Taylor-Smith

Their artistic production is developed to include a wide array of paintings, facilities, performances and theatrical shows with the common objective of expressing tensions and the alignment of the contemporary society, as well as the multiplicity, the darkness and the fragmentation of its language.

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, sheet metal, coats, beams, 200 x 900 cm, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana. Photo Oak Taylor-Smith — Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, sheet metal, coats, beams, 200 x 900 cm, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / La Habana. Photo Oak Taylor-Smith

The abandonment of the traditional concept of pictorial representation with a radical “off the square”, allows him to move away from abstract formalism toward a more conceptual discourse. This provides him an artistic language that, as of 1967, reaches a capacity to create spaces based on places and contexts different every time.

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Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, wardrobes, trunks, beams, sheet metal, coal, coal carts 2 x 24 x 9 m, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / La Habana. Photo Oak Taylor-Smith

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, wood, jute sack, knife, 1996. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo Ela Bialkowska, Okno Studio Particolare / detail

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, Site-specific work for Cuba (detail), 2015. Courtesy: the artist and Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana. Photo Paola Martinez Fiterre

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, bottles, jackets, 2015. Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua. San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo Ela Bialkowska, Okno Studio

until 28 January 2016
Jannis Kounellis
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
San Ignacio 22, La Habana, Cuba

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