Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris
12/04/2016.
[PAR] France.
metlocus, ALVARO LAMAS
metlocus, ALVARO LAMAS
At Monnaie de Paris, Jannis Kounellis has composed a dramatic sculpture throughout the thousand square metres of the 18th-century exhibition rooms of this Palace beside the Seine. Eminently present, concrete, irreducible, the new exhibition by Kounellis imposes a direct experience on visitors, without intermediaries.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
Jannis Kounellis at Monnaie de Paris. Photography © Courtesy of Monnaie de Paris.
"I come to Paris empty-handed, like an old painter." This is what Kounellis said a few months ago in response to the invitation by Monnaie de Paris, which hosts this figure of contemporary art, at the origin of the Arte Povera movement.
"I desperately seek unity, albeit difficult to attain, albeit utopian, albeit impossible and therefore dramatic."
"I desperately seek unity, albeit difficult to attain, albeit utopian, albeit impossible and therefore dramatic."
As a painter, Kounellis designed his exhibition at Monnaie de Paris as a fresco. he had already in 1972 crossed the boundaries of painting with Da inventare sul posto, a work accompanied by a dancer and a violonist.
In the 18th century Monnaie de Paris salons, the paintings are staged through an installation of metal trestles. This army of cold metal will captivate visitors with its size and the contrast with the architecture and décor of the Palace: columns, marble, ornaments, gilt...
Jannis Kounellis offers a true experience to visitors. He had already positioned living energy alive, animal or human, at the centre of his work with the incomparable 12 live horses in 1969. But also in Nabucco in 1970 or quarters of hanging meat, or the Stommeln Pullheim Synagogue exhibition where fish evolved into a plate threatened with a knife in 1991.
Kounellis is inspired by Monnaie de Paris, the oldest company in the world and part of the heart of the last factory in Paris where know-how and industry intermingle to create his "new project". The artist appeals to the visitor and raises the question of how a work is produced. It is in the technique, in the craft of the workshops, in the intuitive use of shapes and at the modelling stage that the artist's project for Monnaie de Paris is born. The work Libertà o Morte. W Marat W Robespierre, 1969 will be presented in the exhibition as well as Da inventare sul posto which will echo the beating heart of the coin presses of Monnaie de Paris, embodying the strength, the rhythm, the orchestration.
A special public program will be performed by Etel Adnan with poetry and musical sessions on 17 March and 28 April at 7pm. Retransmitted on RAM Radioartemobile and broadcast on the Monnaie de Paris website, these rendez-vous will form part of a unique selection of radio archives.
More information
Venue.-
Monnaie de Paris 11, Quai de Conti - 75006 PARIS
Dates.-
March 11, 2016 to April 30, 2016
JANNIS KOUNELLIS
Jannis Kounellis (Piraeus, Greece, 1936) is a Greek contemporary artist and one of the leading exponents of Arte Povera, critical nature art movement in the late 60's was a change radical by moving the art of flat surfaces to the facilities and the use of natural materials and waste. In his works using objects, including live animals, fire, earth, hessian or gold. It changed within its frames per bed frames, doors, windows or buildings used art galleries and industrial facilities as a framework for their own work. By this means, seeks to connect art with nature, society and present.
In the beginning, in the early 60s, Kounellis painted on canvas, but even then it was clear that through his art would seek to reflect on modern society and politics. Utlilizaba stencil technique, reflecting numbers, words and related today he watched street sentences. Slowly included newspaper clippings, advertising posters ripped from walls and other found objects, riding his first exhibition of this kind in 1960 at the Galleria La Tartaruga, then meeting place for intellectuals, writers, critics, and galleristas of thought avant-garde. That same year, he used one of his canvases as clothing and staged a performance in his study to demonstrate how the artist merged into one with his painting. This convergence between painting, sculpture and performance was his escape route of traditional art.
In the beginning, in the early 60s, Kounellis painted on canvas, but even then it was clear that through his art would seek to reflect on modern society and politics. Utlilizaba stencil technique, reflecting numbers, words and related today he watched street sentences. Slowly included newspaper clippings, advertising posters ripped from walls and other found objects, riding his first exhibition of this kind in 1960 at the Galleria La Tartaruga, then meeting place for intellectuals, writers, critics, and galleristas of thought avant-garde. That same year, he used one of his canvases as clothing and staged a performance in his study to demonstrate how the artist merged into one with his painting. This convergence between painting, sculpture and performance was his escape route of traditional art.
