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Lot Essay
Jannis Kounellis' profound connection with art history has been inherited from his Greek and Italian parentage. This connection clearly appears in 'Napoli', a pair of shoes, the soles of which are delicately painted with gold. Kounellis conceived this work as a goldsmith's piece, and compared them to the work of Andrea Verrochio and Gustav Klimt whom he considered to be goldsmiths before being artists. The shoes were intended as part of the installation titled 'Civil Tragedy', displayed in 1975 at the Naples Modern Art Agency, which featured a large wall covered with gold leaf, a portmanteau and an oil-lamp.
Kounellis intended this dramatic work to evoke an icon, in the sense defined by both the 9th Century Council of Nice and Kasimir Malevitch. According to this concept, an icon is a form of language that instructs and invites us through contemplation to reach a higher level of spirituality, giving priority to the symbol rather than a superfluous overload of representation.
By using gold, Kounellis suggests the presence of a divine or celestial nature in ordinary objects, events or people. Therefore, these fragile yet powerful golden soles poetically bring to mind an immaterial being who would travel through Italy's past and memory, incarnating a sense of tragic national consciousness.
Kounellis intended this dramatic work to evoke an icon, in the sense defined by both the 9th Century Council of Nice and Kasimir Malevitch. According to this concept, an icon is a form of language that instructs and invites us through contemplation to reach a higher level of spirituality, giving priority to the symbol rather than a superfluous overload of representation.
By using gold, Kounellis suggests the presence of a divine or celestial nature in ordinary objects, events or people. Therefore, these fragile yet powerful golden soles poetically bring to mind an immaterial being who would travel through Italy's past and memory, incarnating a sense of tragic national consciousness.