Jannis Kounellis in Six Acts

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.

This exhibition takes place in galleries 1, 2, 3, and D/Perlman Gallery at the Walker Art Center. 

This exhibition is proudly part of TC Arts week October 12-16, 2022. Learn More.