Jannis Kounellis

(Greece, Italy 23 Mar 1936– )

Title

Untitled 1984/87

Year

1987

Media category

Installation

Materials used

steel, wood, plaster, cloth, gas burner, paint, soot marks

Dimensions

201.0 x 1093.0 x 19.5cm overall:

a-l - 12 panels; 201 x 91 x 4cm

m - girder 'I' beam; 14.3 x 489.5 x 6.5cm

n - bed frame; 80 x 189.7 x 3.5cm

o - large shelf; 100 x 70 x 15.4cm

p - wood piece no.1; 49.2 x 17 x 11.6cm

q - wood piece no.2; 63.1 x 19 x 2.5cm

r - wood piece no.3; 49.5 x 7.2 x 2.1cm

s - wood piece no.4; 66.5 x 18.5 x 3.3cm

t-mm - 20 small shelves; 4 x 40 x 13cm

nn - gas bottle; 48 x 103cm

oo - gas burner and hose; 25cm

oo - gas burner and hose; 380cm

pp-rr - 3 cloth bundles; 18 x 25 x 15cm

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Mervyn Horton Bequest Fund 1988

Accession number

393.1988.a-rr

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

In 1967 a number of artists in Rome formed the arte povera group, with Jannis Kounellis as one of the key members. Literally the name derived from their use of poor and often discarded industrial materials rather than the traditional use of expensive oil paint, bronze or marble. This is something that they had in common with American minimalists but beyond the use of found materials they could not have been more different. The Americans were anxious to differentiate themselves from European traditions by eschewing all references beyond the physical qualities of the material. This was a logical extension of Clement Greenberg’s vision of autonomous art objects that are what you see – no more, no less. The arte povera artists on the contrary filled their work with poetic references to history and mythology, and very commonly to the relationship between nature and culture.

Kounellis’ ‘Untitled 1984/87’ is one of his most important works and it includes many of the ideas that permeate his art and arte povera as a whole.1 The work has a clear narrative that moves from left to right. The burning gas flame on the left represents the transformative power of fire and has alchemical associations.2 Literally it is the element that changes the physical state of materials from solid to liquid to gas and can be used to represent passage from material to spiritual and the cycle of life and death. The flame is attached to a bed frame, which is formed to exactly fit a sleeping body. It is the place where we are conceived and born, where we dream, where we make love and with luck where we die. So far then we have a story about human life; next we find fragments of household furniture, a house beam and bundles of objects wrapped in pieces of grey blanket. The domestic and the traveller are invoked: two aspects of our life and our journey through it.

In the centre of the work is a matt black square, a direct reference to Kasimir Malevich, an artist Kounellis admires greatly.3 The suprematist ‘Black square’ 1915 in Malevich’s terms contained opposites, in the form of a nihilistic statement about the end of representation and at the same time a window onto infinity and a space for meditation. In late modern art this emblematic square invariably suggests transcendence or the often wistful acknowledgment of its impossibility. Kounellis also admired Yves Klein, and like Klein he was interested in the idea of an immaterial void or spiritual dimension to which humanity might aspire. The symbolism of fire in transforming matter is related to this quest. The remainder of the panels are filled with orderly rows of shelves, above each of which is a sooty trace of fire. In the port city of Piraeus (near Kounellis’ birthplace) is a cemetery where oil lamps burn on each grave as a token of the passage of the spirit, and it is reasonable to assume that this is the meaning Kounellis wants us to take from the work. This is the end of the story but perhaps the fire at the left of the work speaks of a new beginning.

1. This work was first reserved by the AGNSW in 1986, when it was displayed at Anthony d’Offay Gallery in its 1984 version.
In 1987 it was destroyed in a fire in Chicago, where it was then being displayed. The artist recreated the work in 1987 but it was not finally acquired until it was brought out at the time of the 1988 Biennale of Sydney
2. Thomas McEvilley in Mary Jane Jacob & Thomas McEvilley, ‘Jannis Kounellis’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago 1986
3. McEvilley 1986

Bibliography (18)

Anthony Bond and Victoria Lynn, The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, 'Contemporary Practice - Here, There, Everywhere ...', pg. 229-285, Sydney, 1994, 258 (colour illus.). full reproduction plus details

Anthony Bond, Look Jul 2008, 'Marriage rites', pg.28-31, Newtown, Jul 2008, 30 (colour illus.).

Anthony Bond, Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection, 'Objects and associations', pg.332-381, Sydney, 2006, 10 (colour illus.), 350, 351 (colour illus.), 430. reproduction on pg.10 is a detail

Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, L'Epoque, la mode, la morale, la passion 1987, 1987, (illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Eduardo Cicelyn and Mario Codognato (Curators), Kounellis 2006, 2006, 206-7 (colour illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Lynne Cooke, Jannis Kounellis 1986, 'Luminous Penumbra', unpaginated, 1986, (illus.). pl.2, reproduction of 1984 version

Mel Gooding, Art Monthly (U.K.) May 1986, 'Kounellis; Hayman', pg.11-13, May 1986, 11.

Mary Jane Jacob, Kounellis, 'Kounellis', pg.167-207, New York, 1990, 169, 180-1 (colour illus.), 183 (illus.). pl.nos.123 and 125, cat.nos. 94 and 99 as Untitled 1986. Reproductions are installation views of 1984 version with no gas cylinder installed at 1015 West Jackson Street, Chicago 1986.

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Domain, 1999, 76 (colour illus.). reproduction is a detail

Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Raum, Zeit, Stille 1985, 1985, (illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Jannis Kounellis: lineare notturno 1993, 1993, 107 (illus.). cat.no. 93, this work is not in this exhibition but is reproduced in the catalogue, reproduction of 1984 version

Thomas McEvilley, Jannis Kounellis 1986, 'Mute prophecies: the art of Jannis Kounellis', pg.15-174, Chicago, 1986, 144, 146-7 (colour illus.). pl.107, reproduction of 1984 version

Musee d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Jannis Kounellis: Œoeuvres de 1983 à 1985 1985, 1985, 40 (illus.). this work is not in this exhibition but is reproduced in the catalogue, reproduction of 1984 version

Museo Madre, Jannis Kounellis 2006, 2006, 92-3 (colour illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Margaret Plant, Art and Australia (Vol. 26, No. 2) Summer 1988, 'Sydney Biennales', pg. 254-263, Sydney, Summer 1988, 261 (illus.) 262. reproduction of 1984 version

Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, The iron window 1985, 1985, (illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Michael Wardell, Look Jun 2004, 'Mervyn Horton's bequest', pg. 11-12, Newtown, Jun 2004, 12.

Nick Waterlow (Director), The 1988 Australian Biennale: From the Southern Cross: a view of world art c1940-1988 1988, Sydney, 1988, 171 (colour illus.). reproduction of 1984 version

Exhibition history (7)

Jannis Kounellis:

Galleria Lucio Amelio, Naples 1984–1984
Anthony d'Offay Gallery, England 14 Mar 1986–18 Apr 1986
Ionion, Port of Pireus, Athens, Athens 1994–1994

Raum, Zeit, Stille, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 23 Mar 1985–02 Jun 1985

The iron window, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands, 1985–1985

Jannis Kounellis: a retrospective in five locations, 1015 West Jackson Street, Chicago, 18 Oct 1986–04 Jan 1987

L'Epoque, la mode, la morale, la passion, Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, France, 21 May 1987–17 Aug 1987

Australian Biennale 1988: From the Southern Cross: A View of World Art c1940-1988:

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 18 May 1988–03 Jul 1988
National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne 04 Aug 1988–18 Sep 1988

Jannis Kounellis Retrospective:

Museo Madre, Naples 22 Apr 2006–04 Sep 2006
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein 20 Oct 2006–21 Jan 2007