Selinunte, 1977
GPO-0373
Fractured plaster cast, plexiglas
Eight plexiglas parts 15 x 15 x 15 cm each, overall dimensions 15 x 140 x 140 cm
Museion – museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bolzano
Acquired in 1995, inventory no. 1372
Eight small plexiglas cubes arranged on the ground at regular intervals delimit a square area that contains the fragments of a plaster cast of a portion of the shaft of a fluted column. The evoking of an archaeological site is reinforced by the title, which refers to the ancient Greek city of Selinunte on the south-western coast of Sicily.
Selinunte introduces a distinctive motif in many of the artist's subsequent works: the fragmentation of a plaster cast – with the majority of the fragments grouped at the centre and then gradually thinning out towards the exterior – in opposition to an ideal outline of geometric order. Akin to the torn paper fragments in other works, the pieces of a broken cast serve as clues aimed at guiding the gaze towards the construction of an image, which eludes, however, the definition of a finished form.
The same theme was developed in two later variants, made in 1978 (GPO-0386) and in 1980 (GPO-0424), respectively.
| 1978 | Naples, Museo Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes, Giulio Paolini, from 9 February, no catalogue. |
| 1982 | Rome, Università degli Studi di Roma, Istituto di Storia dell’Arte Medioevale e Moderna, Generazioni a confronto, 12-22 January, repr. |
| 1986 | Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Giulio Paolini. Dal “Trionfo della rappresentazione” (cerimoniale: in prospettiva), 4 February - 1 March. |
| 1997 | Hall in Tirol (Austria), Salzlager Hall - Kunsthalle Tirol, LIGHT. Sichtbares und Vorgestelltes in der Kunst seit 1960. Werke aus dem Museum für moderne Kunst, Bozen, 15 June - 31 July, col. repr. p. 43 (incorrect installation). |
| 1997-98 | Klagenfurt, Kärtner Landesgalerie, Raum - Zeichen - Licht. Werke aus dem Museum fŸr Moderne Kunst Bozen, 13 November 1997 - 19 January 1998, col. repr. p. 37 (incorrect installation), catalogue entry by G. Wurzel pp. 35-36. |
| 1999 | Bolzano, Museion Museo d’arte moderna, Positionen/Posizioni. Museiondocumenta 1999, 19 March - 23 May, col. repr. p. 109 (incorrect installation). |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), p. 116 (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. Premio Bolaffi 1980 (Turin: Giulio Bolaffi Editore, 1980), repr. p. 17 (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | Thoughts and Action. Joseph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Bruce MacLean, Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Tokyo, The Japan Foundation, The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, The Laforet Museum (Tokyo: Flex Co. Ltd, 1982), repr. p. 112. |
| • | Artisti italiani contemporanei 1950-1983, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Chiesa di San Samuele (Milan: Electa, 1983), repr. p. 50. |
| • | Giulio Paolini, vol. Images/Index (Villeurbanne: Le Nouveau Musée, 1984), repr. p. 116 (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | A.M. Romanini, “Tradizione e crisi di valori nell’arte occidentale”, in Tradizione cultura e crisi di valori, proceedings of the Lincei conferences 63, conference hold on 19-22 May 1982 (Rome: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, 1984), p. 292, repr. no. 27 p. 296. |
| • | La montagna gialla, edited by Carlo Quartucci (Rome: Camion, 1985), repr. p. 46. |
| • | Italia Aperta, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Fundación Caja de Pensiones, 1985, repr. p. 50. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), repr. no. VIII p. 42. |
| • | Paul Maenz Ausstellungen / Exhibitions. Saison / Season 1985-86 (Cologne: Galerie Paul Maenz, 1986), repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Cologne 1986). |
| • | Paul Maenz Köln 1970-1980-1990. Eine Avantgarde-Galerie und die Kunst unserer Zeit / An Avant-Garde Gallery and the Art of Our Time, edited by G. de Vries (Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag, 1991), repr. p. 204 (exhibition view Cologne 1986). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Early Dynastic, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande (Milan: Skira editore, 2001), repr. p. 32. |
| • | R. Krüger, Nach der Antike. Studien zur Antikenrezeption in der bildenden Kunst seit 1967 (Essen: Klartext, 2004), p. 68, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 373 p. 378, repr. (exhibition view Naples 1978). |
| • | G. Bonomi, La disseminazione. Esplosione, frammentazione e dislocazione nell’arte contemporanea (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino Editore, 2009), p. 48, repr. |
| • | B. Satre, “Giulio Paolini, entre fragment et fragmentation”, in Influxus, online journal, 28 May 2014. |
| • | P. Repetto, “Oltre il visibile”, in Giulio Paolini. O.D.E., exhibition catalogue, Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo), Castello di Perno (Alba: Fondazione Mancini Carini, 2022), p. 39, not repr. |
| • | A. Soldaini, “‘Cos’altro c’è da dire?’”, in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), pp. 35-36, not repr. |
