Catalogue entry

Display

The installation of two easels – one opposite the other with a certain distance between them – must correspond to the drawing made on the two canvases.

Description

Two primed canvases, exhibited on two easels facing each other and located at a certain distance from each other, and on a diagonal axis with respect to the room, each present a perspectival drawing of the element situated before it.
Each of the facing elements records itself or its equal, that is, it confirms or verifies the situation captured by our gaze before the work. The "demonstration" in question does not just concern the object called into play, but also and above all the visual act that captures it.
In the artist's own words: “‘Demonstration’ is perhaps one of those words that are best used to verify the boundaries, both conventional and undecipherable, of the signs of language. I found it to be suited to defining an aspect of perception that tends, in fact, to demonstrate itself”1.
The same theme was reformulated in three other variants, made in 1975 (GPO-0299, GPO-0300, GPO-0312).

1 G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), p. 92, new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), p. 118.

Exhibitions

1974	Cologne, Kunsthalle Köln, Kunst bleibt Kunst. Aspekte internationaler Kunst am Anfang der 70er Jahre. Projekt ’74, 6 July - 8 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 433, not repr.
1975	Antwerp, ICC Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Sempre cose nuove pensando. Aspecten actuele Kunst uit Italië, 22 February - 23 March, repr. p. 34.
1976	Milan, Studio Marconi, Giulio Paolini, from 5 February.
1976	Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, Sala delle Scuderie, Giulio Paolini, 11 March - 21 April, not repr.
1977	Mönchengladbach, Städtisches Museum, Giulio Paolini, 3 March - 11 April, repr. (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), p. 92, new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), p. 118.

Bibliography

•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, 1977, commentary by P. Maenz p. 50, repr. p. 51 (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).
•	F. Menna, “Doppio ritratto (alla maniera) di Paolini”, in Studio Marconi 4-5 (Milan), 20 April 1978, p. 61, not repr., in general on the group of works titled “Dimostrazione” (GPO-0272, GPO-0299, GPO-0300, GPO-0312); republished in Giulio Paolini. Premio Bolaffi 1980 (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi Editore, 1980), p. 29, not repr.; Giulio Paolini. “Una collezione ’60/’80” (Milan: Studio Marconi, 1990), pp. 122-123, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), repr. p. 105 (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).
•	“Il sublime e l’insignificante. Il mito dei due amanti o l’idea del sublime di Giulio Paolini”, in Gran Bazaar 4 (Milan), September-October, 1979, repr. p. 157 (exhibition view Milan 1976).
•	Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 1980, repr. p. 30 (exhibition view Cologne 1974).
•	E. Lucie-Smith, Art in the Seventies (Oxford: Phaidon Press Limited, 1980), repr. p. 101 (exhibition view Milan 1976).
•	M. Wechsler, in Giulio Paolini. Werke und Schriften 1960-1980 (Lucerne: Kunstmuseum Luzern, 1981), n. pag., repr. no. 4 (exhibition view Cologne 1974).
•	W.M. Faust, “Et quid amabo: Notizen zu Arbeiten von Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Del bello intelligibile, exhibition catalogue, Bielefeld, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1982, p. 22, repr. (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).
•	Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 70 (exhibition view Cologne 1974).
•	J.L. Maubant, “Giulio Paolini ou le triomphe de la mélancolie”, in Paolini. Melanconia ermetica, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galerie Maeght Lelong, 1985, p. 9, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), repr. no. 24 (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).
•	G.B. Salerno, “Nero-Kounellis, Bianco-Paolini” in Flash Art 19, no. 132 (Milan, Italiann edition), April-May, 1986, not repr.
•	G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 155 (exhibition view Parma 1976).
•	F. Poli, “Note di lettura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), pp. 39-40, not repr.; republished in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 65, not repr.
•	A. Altamira, Il secolo sconosciuto. Protagonisti Opere Tendenze dell’Arte del 900 (Milan: Rossellabigi Editore, 1997), p. 334, not repr.
•	G. Paolini, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006), plate no. III (exhibition view Parma 1976).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 272 p. 283, repr. (exhibition view Antwerp 1975).
•	E. Longari, “Specchi doppi e riflessi”, in Anni Settanta. La rivoluzione nei linguaggi dell’arte, edited by C. Casero and E. Di Raddo (Milan: Postmedia Books, 2015), p. 111 (erroneously dated “1970”), not repr.
•	L. Skrebowski, “Introspezione come estrospezione: la poietica di Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Del Bello ideale, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Fondazione Carriero (London: Koenig Books, 2019), vol. 1 p. 86 (in general on the group of works titled Dimostrazione), not repr.

Dimostrazione, 1974