Born in the Greek port of Piraeus in 1936, Kounellis has lived in Rome since 1956. A key protagonist of Arte Povera, he is one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, with a career spanning more than forty years. He has exhibited all over the world, and is represented in major museum collections internationally. His first exhibition in Rome, in 1960, was entitled Kounellis’ Alphabet.
Solo exhibitions by Kounellis at UK public venues since the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1982 have included the Henry Moore Studio, Dean Clough, Halifax 1991; Modern Art Oxford, 2004-5 and a joint exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. 2005.
In 2002, Untitled 1969, in which horses were tethered to the gallery walls, was briefly re-presented at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. An Artist Room of important works from throughout Kounellis’ career is on display at Tate Modern until March 2010, and a solo exhibition will open at ZKM (Museum for Neue Kunst), Karlsruhe in 2010.
Recent solo exhibitions by Kounellis include HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark (2009); Fundación Caixa Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2008); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin Germany (2007) and MADRE Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, Italy (2006).
In January 2011 Kounellis partecipated to 'Monanism', the opening exhibition of the private foundation Mona, Tasmania, Australia
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