In the beginning, there was the Alphabets, a stunning composition of letters and numbers on a white background which a very young Greek artist showed his Roman colleagues as a way of demonstrating how he wanted to break with tradition. Later on, Jannis Kounellis came up with even more volatile creations, making him one of the most innovative characters of that lively season known as the ‘60s, as well as a top proponent of Arte Povera. From ML Fine Art, an exhibition that tells of the crucial moments preceding the revolution, concentrating on important rarely-displayed works created between ’61 and ’64 which, thanks to a recent study by the University of Florence, take on an even more noteworthy significance today. Next to the Alphabets, we find a surprising Rainbow and a series of Roses collages, with which the artist rediscovered elements of reality and definitively moved away from Pop tendencies that were emerging in American art - a new avant guarde about to see the light of day.
