Planetario, 2021
GPE-0150
Planetarium
Plaster relief and Murano glass
50 x 40 x 4 cm
Titled, signed, and dated on the verso: “Planetario / Giulio Paolini / 2021”
Autograph numbering on the verso
6 in Arabic numerals from 1/6 to 6/6
3 unnumbered Artist’s proofs
2 unnumbered Production proofs
Each edition is distinguished by the different configuration and arrangement of the glass fragments, which vary in terms of number, shape, colour, and size.
Vetreria Venini, Murano
Gipsoteca Mondazzi, Turin
The multiple was commissioned from the artist by the glass company Venini, Murano – since 2020 headed by Silvia Damiani – on the occasion of its one-hundredth anniversary.
Wooden crate, blank, 53 x 63 x 17 cm.
An oval relief in plaster in Neoclassical style features a crouching female figure, intent on looking at herself in the mirror she holds before her. In the area corresponding to the mirror and in variable parts of the relief several Murano glass beads are applied; the colours and dimensions of the spheres differ from one edition to another of the edition size, and are arranged so that they seem to be held by the figure's body.
The female profile recalls the mythological figure of the Muse, the embodiment of the supreme ideal of Art. The spheres that the Muse observes and has revolve around her recall the planets (as the title suggests), for Paolini the symbol of an absolute dimension. The colours of the iris that connote the circular forms are themselves also the emblem of a totality that is in itself complete.
The same theme was developed in a series on paper that same year (GPC-1743, GPC-1875, GPC-1888, GPC-1960).
The mutiple was commissioned from the artist along with another relief, similar in type, but different as concerns the subject, titled I colori della Musa (GPE-0149).
Female nude with mirror, Neoclassical period.
| 2022 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. La Musa in laguna, 20-29 January; editions 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6, 5/6, 6/6. |
