Jannis Kounellis

JANNIS KOUNELLIS(Greece, 1936-Villa Mafalda, Rome, 2017).
Untitled (sewing machine), 2004.
Mixed media. Exemplar 3/25.
Features labels on verso of Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Signed and justified on the back.
Measurements: 70 x 50 x 21 cm.
Untitled (sewing machine) is a sculpture consisting of a vertically oriented rectangular steel box with a glass front. A steel shelf divides the display case, placed diagonally and from left to right. On the shelf is an old Singer sewing machine, while below the shelf is a folded coat. From 1989 to 2005, Kounellis made a series of works produced in editions, described as multiple, in which he incorporated elements drawn from the vocabulary of his earlier practice. Untitled (Sewing Machine) is one of these multiples, and is number three of an edition of twenty-five, in fact it is worth noting that 11 of 25 in this same series is in the collection of the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Kounellis has used antique sewing machines in many of his installations and between 1986-1987 he exhibited his work in one of the old Singer factories. The sewing machines in Kounellis' installations contain connotations of production and industrialization and undoubtedly allude to an industry of female translation.

A contemporary artist based in Rome, Jannis Kounellis began his training in Athens, and in 1956 moved to Rome to continue it at the Academy of Fine Arts in that city. After finishing his studies, in the first years of his career Kounellis will exhibit only pictorial work, showing in his first works techniques such as stencilling letters and numbers, reflecting advertisements and signs he saw in the street. During these years he started sculpting using found objects, such as traffic signs, and he also began to exhibit his sculptural production at the La Tartaruga gallery (1960). In the same year he will carry out a performance in his studio in which he unites sculpture, painting and his own self, which will lead him to a new language combining different disciplines as a way of rejecting traditional art. The following year he began to paint on newsprint, reflecting his feelings towards modern society and politics. In 1963 Kounellis began to introduce found objects into his paintings, and started to work even with live animals, fire, earth, gold, etc. He will then replace canvases with bedsteads, doors, windows or simply the gallery itself, associating himself with Arte Povera. His language will continue to evolve around sculpture and performance, and from the eighties he will make his work known throughout Europe. Throughout his career Kounellis has participated in major Arte Povera group shows in Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France, and has also taken part in numerous international exhibitions, including the Biennials in Paris (1967, 1969), Venice (1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1993), Istanbul (1993) and Sydney (2008) and the Documenta in Kassel (1972, 1977, 1982). His work has also been exhibited in museums and institutions such as the Kunstmuseum in Bern, the Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Villa in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the MNCA Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He is currently represented in these museums and also in the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Guggenheim and the MoMA in New York, among others.