Jannis Kounellis en Monnaie de París

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.