A consolidated friendship between Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam and Galleria Continua proceeds from the participation of many of the Gallery’s artists in our Biennials, and the exhibition Follia Continua! 25 Years of Galleria Continua, which took in our space in between November 2015 and January 2016. As part of the activities fostered by Centro de ARTE CONTINUA, which opened in Havana in November 2015, we are pleased to present today the solo-show of a great artist: Jannis Kounellis.

Kounellis does not need a presentation in Havana’s and Cuba’s art scene. Yet, if we were to assist those visitors who are unknowledgeable about the artist’s work, and clarify some of his dearest strategies, we would cast light on his loyalty to a very particular conception and understanding of art. This conception and this understanding, born from the very entrails of the desire to find visions, presences, imaginary, have been associated with its historical connections with Arte Povera, as the affiliation to an art made with poor, or apparently poor materials, such as industrial materials. However, this signification, even when intended only on a first level, transcends the idea of a material poverty. This condition, which can be seen throughout his whole career, continues to become a system of operations more related to an attitude than to a type of presence, object or visual – although these latter factors shall not be ignored.