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Poetic references to art, history and drama are ever-present in Kounellis's work. They mostly arise out of a dialogue between place, space and materials. In Untitled (1980-91) Kounellis refers not just to the many frightened faces in Edvard Munch's work Angst (1894). He also comments on the nature and expressive possibilities of the ornamental through associations with the piles of skulls in the Capuchin tombs (Cimitero dei Capucini) in Rome, the Nazi death camps and the mass graves in Cambodia. In this way, Kounellis's works become personal interpretations of Munch's universe. Kounellis takes on the role of "historical narrator" and gives us a feeling of being addressed in a recognisable yet at the same time incomprehensible language. A language which can only attain meaning by awakening our dormant cultural and art history associations. The eternal in Munch's art is placed in a formal, historical perspective, and the dramatic and human qualities in his paining are thereby given a new voice. |
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