Transfiguration Of The Commonplace

In1960s, as an influential artistic movement in the international arena, Arte Povera with itsvarious manifestations and complicated concerns still cannot be well defined even in todaywhen it shows its creativity for the first time. Jannis Kounellis, a famous Italian representativeartist for Arte Povera, utilized wastes and everyday materials as mediums for artistic creation,which broke through the status, present situation and schemata of art language and played anextremely important role in the development of subsequent arts. How did Jannis Kounellischoose and use everyday materials in such way of creation? How these everyday materialsbecame artistic works? What’s the criteria for these? What conceptions did his works express?And what were the points of these works? The explorations on these questions not onlycontribute to our understanding of Kounellis and Arte Povera, but also make it easier for us tocomprehend the development of arts today. This thesis is divided into four parts to interpret thevalue and significance for transforming everyday materials of Arte Povera into artistic works.Part I introduces the basic concepts and ideas, as well as background of Arte Povera. Then PartII analyzes the artistic concepts and propositions of Kounellis by interpreting his typical worksso as to acquaint with his utilization and expression of everyday materials. Part III explains howeveryday materials turn into artistic works--artists give new concepts and meanings to them sothat they can accomplish the transformations from non-art forms to artistic works. And Part IVstates the significance of arts from everyday materials, which is that art is not opposite to life inArte Povera. As Kounellis pointed out that “What we need to achieve today is the unitybetween life and art practice.” Artistic pursuits reveal the authenticity and people’s inner and spiritual world, intentionally or not, coincide with the trend of contemporary art in the world.The last part of this thesis concludes the utilizations of everyday materials in Arte Povera andits significances and value to us.