(Top left) Untitled-Catrame VIIII 200x180x80cm, 2007. (Top right) Untitled-Catrame IV 200x180x80cm, 2007. (Middle left) Untitled-Catrame V & VI, each 200x180x90cm, 2007. (Middle right) Untitled-Catrame VII & VIII, each 200x180x90cm, 2007. (Bottom image) Untitled-Catrame X & XI, each 200x180x50cm, 2007. Jannis Kounellis's solo exhibition "Catrame" is on display at Lelong Gallery from February 23 to March 31. Born in 1930, Jannis Kounellis is one of the most representative artists of Italian Arte Povera. He is perhaps the most magical among them; his works exude an alchemical mystery, exploring themes centered on broad human civilization evolution (the Industrial Revolution, nature, history, mythology, etc.). He often skillfully constructs or arranges forms through the sensitive combination of two heterogeneous materials, creating explosive visual imagination and magic amidst contrasting contradictions, elucidating the energy and tension of matter, and forming metaphysical metaphors for human civilization and social evolution within the essence of conceptual construction. Kounellis is famous for his magical and imaginative "Sculptures of Fire," "Living Sculptures," and "Abnormal Sculptures-Objects."

Kounellis's famous steel plate objects-paintings began in the late 1960s. One may recall his 1969 work of hanging knotted natural hair braids on a steel plate. This clearly emerged from the surreal syntax of constructing contradictory heterogeneous materials, giving birth to these metaphorical steel paintings, which have since become the hallmark of Kounellis's work. This solo exhibition features the theme "Catrame," serving as a metaphor for substances pitch-black like asphalt or coal. Coal and charcoal are materials favored by Kounellis, as much of his exploration is built upon the driving force of Western industrial civilization. The new "Catrame" series hangs old wooden tables and chairs in novel ways on steel plates, mounts black paintings on tables, and uses black carpets, clothing, and hats. Within rigorous and clear forms and structures, they are both abstract and concrete, powerfully highlighting material forms and objects within the imagery of painting and sculpture, evoking extraordinary imagination and metaphor. In 1982, the artist explained: "I oppose catastrophic aesthetics: I am a believer in happiness. I explore the rigor and arrogance of our ancestors in the nineteenth century (of course, the world of the Industrial Revolution). They entrusted us with examples of form and revolutionary content... I like the character Austin written by Shakespeare, and I respect death and contemplate it..."