Opus Incertum, 1991

A series of gilt frames, arranged in parallel rows but staggered from one row to another, like bricks in a wall, each enclose a torn photographic fragment of a previous work by Paolini. The central frame hosts a reproduction of the detail of the artist's left eye with a drawing prin in the area corresponding to the iris, taken from a drawn self-portrait.1
The title suggests a reading on two levels or in two phases. On the one hand, the architectural meaning of the Latin expression “opus incertum” – a wall-making technique used by the Romans that consisted of placing small irregular stones close together – is alluded to in both the pattern of the staggered frames, generally evoking a wall structure, and in the small torn fragments that suggest the typical random design of the wall structure that is built when this technique is used. On the other hand, the meaning of an “opera incerta” (an uncertain work), indicates the fragmentary nature of the “paintings” joined in this unique painting gallery; the eye at the centre of the composition intercepts only clues, echoes, fragments, while the work that the author seeks to glimpse remains unattainable in its integrity.
The original collage on which the print is based is documented in the online Catalogue Raisonné of the works on paper at number GPC-1675.

1 The complete self-portrait appears in two other print editions from the same year, Contemplator enim (GPE-0080) and L’ombelico dei limbi (GPE-0082).