Itaca, 1976
GPO-0334
Ithaca
Collage on book pages and on paper
Nine framed parts 53 x 33 cm each, overall dimensions 165 x 105 cm
Private collection
Eight double pages of the first book of writings published by the artist, each of which partially covered by a small blank square, are arranged in order, according to a spiral reading that starts from the first element at the upper left and continues as far as the one in the middle.1 The arrival point of this path repeats the entire itinerary from the start by way of eight white cardboard units, which in turn harken back to the concentric dynamic with eight other modules applied to the unit in the middle. The circularity of the path is enhanced by the title, which refers to Ulysses' mythical homeland.
In the artist's own words: “The pages of a book describe my work through a spiral that opens, in the middle, with a representation of the itinerary that has just been completed. The central image is therefore the 'forgetting’ of the individual images it is made up of”.2
The same theme was formulated in two other variants, made in 1975 (GPO-0319) and in 1979 (GPO-0410), respectively.
1 The pages are from G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975); i.e. pages 6-7 (with reproductions of the two Senza titolo from 1961, GPO-0011 and GPO-0009), 10-11 (with the first part of the text Una lettera sul tempo, 1963-68, and the work Indice, 1963, GPO-0033), 14-15 (with two Senza titolo from 1964, GPO-0056 and GPO-0060), 18-19 (with the horizontal reproduction on a double page of 174, 1965, GPO-0091), 32-33 (with the illustration of the multiple Ciò che non ha limiti..., 1968, GPE-0003), 42-43 (with the text Note di lavoro comprising comments to the works from 1960-70), 64-65 (with the print edition The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1971, GPE-0008, and the reproduction of La visione è simmetrica?, 1972, and Nove quadri datati dal 1967 al 1971 visti in prospettiva, 1972, GPO-0237 and GPO-0233), and 88-89 (with the reproduction of four images from the installation of Idem IV, 1974, GPO-0265, at the Galerie Paul Maenz in Cologne in 1974).
2 G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 78.
| 1978 | Naples, Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Giulio Paolini, from 9 February, no catalogue. |
| 1978 | Bologna, Galleria de’ Foscherari, Le figure del tempo, 18 March - 31 May, repr. n. pag. |
| 1982 | Turin, Galleria Christian Stein, Anselmo, Barbera, Dibbets, Fabro, Kounellis, Merz, Paolini, Parmiggiani, Penone, Zorio, December. |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 78 (note to the work published in the visitor's guide drawn up for the solo exhibition at Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Naples 1978). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), repr. p. 78. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Figures/Intentions (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 19. |
| • | Der Traum des Orpheus. Mythologie in der italienischen Gegenwartskunst 1967 bis 1984, exhibition catalogue, Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1984, repr. p. 84 (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | La collection Christian Stein. Un regard sur l’art italien (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée and Art Édition, 1992), repr. p. 181, catalogue entry p. 291. |
| • | D. Sung, “Arte per la vita”, in Case da abitare 48 (Turin), June, 2001, col. repr. p. 84 (installation view at the gallery-cum-house of Christian Stein). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 334 p. 343, col. repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 157 (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
