Artwork of the month July

Jannis Kounellis. Senza titolo, 1969

Jannis Kounellis

* 1936 in Piraeus, Greece


Senza titolo, 1969


Stones, paint, 36 parts
Dimensions variable
LSK 00.39

Lying on the floor are 36 stones. Kounellis dipped half of each stone into black oil paint, so that the other half retained its natural colour. The stones differ in shape and size, from small and oval to wedge- or almost square-shaped stones which have to be grasped with both hands. The stones form an open field.

Art and nature enter into a close relationship in this work. The stones have passed through several stages. In a geological process lasting millions of years, molten rock crystallized, the igneous rock forced its way to the earth's surface where it was weathered, crushed in streams and rivers, ground and rounded. Kounellis chose the stones, worked them and placed them in a new context. "In 1967 I made a work in Genoa for which I dipped stones in black paint. Painting is something quite different. This is about language and a method of depicting a subject."

One after the other, the stones were subjected to a working process in the knowledge of the features of the material: when being dipped, the paint posited the abstract line, the horizon. A synthesis of nature and culture. A synthesis of abstraction and realism. A fully thoroughly poetic gesture that creates an image, a mood, a narrative.

<b>Jannis Kounellis. Senza titolo, 1969</b>
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein highlights a work from the permanent collection each month throughout the year. Works from the collection of the Hilti Art Foundation are also included in this series on a regular basis.