Kounellis’ works and artistic collaborations paved the way for Arte Povera, dodging the exaltation of materials in support of an authentic form of visual expression and creative installations. Changing between a classical and radical practice, Kounellis created fundamental works that led to a dynamic and cultural exchange with the viewer. His art is intense and fluid, enveloping elements simultaneously natural and historical, physical and symbolic, with an emphasis on their mystical balance.
In 1967, the year of the “fire daisy,” the phenomenon of combustion started to appear in Kounellis’ work. According to alchemical tradition, gold can be found at the height of the mutation and the result of combustion. Kounellis began to use gold in his art, such as in the installation Untitled (Tragedia Civile) (1975).
In Kounellis’ work, smoke functions as proof of the transmutation of substances and the passage of time. Traces of soot on stones, walls, and canvases that identify some of his works from 1979 and 1980 symbolize a personal “return to painting.” During this time, he developed the industrial chimney motif. As fire signifies the possibility of a revolutionary intervention on reality, smoke and soot released from the industrial chimney exemplify dissolution and the end of every likely political and social activism through art.
Jannis Kounellis passed away in Rome on February 16, 2017, at the age of 80. – GM