Knife, 1991

Greek painter and sculptor Jannis Kounellis was synonymous with the Arte Povera — Poor Art movement. After attending an art college in Athens, Kounellis relocated to Rome and studied at the Italian capital's Academia di Bella Art. Jannis Kounellis's early career was as a painter who created works inspired by simple images like street advertisements. However as he became immersed in Arte Povera, an artistic realm which challenged conventional political, societal and artistic norms Kounellis also branched out into sculpture and installation art. Jannis Kounellis’s public collections have been displayed in famous museums like the Tate in London, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, also in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. Group displays of his Kounellis and other artists involved with the Arte Povera movement were seen in shows across Europe from the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. Jannis Kounellis, along with Alighiero Boetti, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali and Emilio Prini were charter members of the Arte Povera movement.