Suivez-moi (Le Temple de la Gloire), 1983
GPO-0493
Golden pillow, Roman antique marble
12 x 58 x 43 cm
Private collection, Milan
Le Temple de la Gloire is the general subtitle of a work conceived in 1983 and reformulated in overall nine variants (GPO-0490, GPO-0492, GPO-0493, GPO-0500, GPO-0508, GPO-0510, GPO-0526, GPO-0559, GPO-0808). A constant element is the golden pilllow, on which Paolini each time proposes an "offer", while the title quotes a phrase or a verse from the opera libretto of Le Temple de la Gloire (1745) by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Depending on the exhibition itself, the arrangement of the pillow also varies, at times integrated with complementary elements.
The work is based on the contrast between the eloquence of the elegant pillow, evoking a solemn ritual – in a dimension that is outside of the flow of time – and the ephemeral futility of the object offered, which is prosaic and inconsistent.
In this version the pillow holds a marble head from the Roman age (owned by the collector for whom the work was made).
Subtitle from the opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Le Temple de la Gloire, 1745 and title from the same source, Act II, Scene I, last line.
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 493 p. 507, col. repr. (with incorrect dimensions of the base “80 x 45 x 45 cm”). |
