L’idolo, 1983-84

Archive number

GPO-0515

English title

The Idol

Technique

Fractured plaster casts, colour photo print, plexiglas case

Dimensions

Plexiglas case 110 x 90 x 90 cm, overall dimensions 110 x 110 x 110 cm

Collection

Private collection

Description

The fragments of the plaster casts of a pair of wings and of a classical head set down on the ground inside a plexiglas case – some of the pieces are scattered outside as well – evoke the fall of an ”idol”, while a colour photograph, applied under the upper side of the case, portrays a cloudy sky.
The theme of the Idolo was developed in two other subsequent variants, made respectively in 1985 (GPO-0545) and in 1986 (GPO-0579).

Sources

Head of Apollo, copy of a 470/460 BC Greek original.

Exhibitions

1984	Spoleto, Palazzo Rosari Spada, XXVII Festival dei Due Mondi, Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, 27 June - 16 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 10 p. 30 (as “Aria”), not repr.
1984-85	Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli, Ouverture, 19 December 1984 - February 1985, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. p. 131 (erroneously dated “1982-83”), repr. p. 62 (exhibition view).
1986	Chicago, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Anselmo, Fabro, Kounellis, Mario Merz, Paolini, Zorio, 16 May - 28 June.
1988	Antwerp, ICC Internationaal Cultureel Centrum, Galerie Albert Baronian in ICC, 4 November - 18 December, col. repr. p. 51 (erroneously dated “1982-83”, work not installed by the artist).

Bibliography

•	Rosenfest Berlin 1984, exhibition catalogue, Berlin, Daadgalerie, 1984, repr. p. 134.
•	Paolini. Melanconia ermetica, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galerie Maeght Lelong, 1985, col. repr. p. 13 (exhibition view Spoleto 1984).
•	Giulio Paolini. Casa di Lucrezio, 1981-84, visitor’s guide (Rivoli: Castello di Rivoli Museo d’arte contemporanea, 1987), repr. (exhibition view Rivoli 1984-85).
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 515 p. 526, col. repr. (exhibition view Spoleto 1984).
•	Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. p. 189 (exhibition view Spoleto 1984).

Entry by Maddalena Disch, 09/05/2025