Jannis Kounellis
August 13, 2005 – January 8, 2006; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

It’s been a bumper year for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, with a succession of first class shows including Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon. But the gallery’s secret weapon – with three weeks left to run – is its free Jannis Kounellis retrospective. While the Edinburgh Art Festival made much of Kounellis’s massive installation at the art college, the gob-smacking array of works at Belford Road never got the attention it deserved.

The Greek-born artist, central to the Italian Arte Povera movement of the 1960s and 1970s, aimed to bring life back into art. With everyday objects such as bedsprings and old clothes, he chose to present the world as it was, rather than to represent it in paint, or to escape it in abstraction.

A bold mix of works from the past 50 years culminates in one brand new installation by the 69-year old artist. Nudging against an earth-bound heap of coal is a heavenly curtain of steel and coloured glass. The room beyond – emptied of its usual collection of paintings – is filled with light and space, with longing and contemplation. In fact, this work is so perfect here that it should never have to leave.

Catrìona Black, Sunday Herald 18.12.05