GIULIO PAOLINI
STAND F4
(1940, Genoa, Italy)
A come Accademia (II), 2023, Plaster casts and fragments, white plinths, cm.h. 198 x 152.5 one plinth 80×40×40 cm, two casts h 90 cm each, two plinths 80×40×20 cm each, overall dimensions variable
In the middle of a room, on a plinth resting on a platform are several plaster fragments from a female figure – an arm and a face are recognizable; other fragments are scattered around on the platform itself. Up against two opposite walls, the cast of the same female nude covering her face is divided in half, each one arranged on a plinth.
Between the fragments and the two halves, the gaze seeks a whole image, in vain: they all beckon to each other and in turn refer to the whole figure, which is not visible, and only alluded to, however. In other words, the work represents the impossibility of capturing the ideal model, of achieving a complete image, which is announced by decompositions and fragments, albeit escaping every attempt at fixing or recomposing them.
The artwork was exhibited in the show A come Accademia, hosted at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 2023, and appears in the catalogue.
Giulio Paolini lives and works in Turin. He is one of the most influential artists of his generation and a pioneer of the Arte Povera movement. His use of various materials (including plaster casts, drawings, objects, and photographs) symbolizes the signs and images of time. The history of art and its images are utilized as a medium, creating a poetic language made of references and fragments.
His work is held in the most prestigious collections worldwide, including:
MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Gallery, London; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Neue Galerie Graz, Graz; MUMOK, Wien; Musée d’Art Moderne, Bruxelles; S.M.A.K, Gand; École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris; Fonds National d’art contemporain, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Staatlich Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Museo del Novecento, Milan; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan; Museo Madre, Naples; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; The Art Institute, Chicago.