L’ospite, 1986
GPO-0569
The Guest
Primed canvas, stretcher and pencil on paper
Primed canvas 120 x 80 cm, overall dimensions variable
Dismantled work
In the guest room of a private home in Ghent, made available for the group exhibition “Chambres d’amis”, Paolini placed a primed canvas on an easel at the intersection of the diagonals of the room, facing a sofa that was turned towards the bookcase on one side of the room. Afterwards, in a reduced perspectival drawing, he drew the image of the canvas and the easel on the spine of the books covered with white paper and arranged in the bookcase, so that the drawing mirrored the point of view of a hypothetical guest seated on the sofa.
The mise en abîme of the work as an “appointment” with the viewer, at the time and in the place of its exhibition, reiterates the author's exit from the scene – a central theme in Paolini's research, especially in the 1980s –, someone who prefers to listen to the work, that is, to be its "guest": the anonymous and silent guest of a potential kaleidoscope of artificers.
| 1986 | Chambres d’Amis, 21 June - 21 September, col. repr. pp. 186-187. |
| • | J. de Loisy, “Chambres d’amis à Gand”, in Galeries Magazine 14 (Paris), August-September, 1986, p. 65, col. repr. p. 65 and on cover. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 96-97. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 123. |
| • | M. Bourel, “Giulio Paolini, contemplateur donc”, in Art press 164 (Paris), December, 1991, col. repr. p. 19. |
| • | Giulio Paolini al Palazzo della Ragione, exhibition catalogue, Padua, Salone del Palazzo della Ragione (Milan: Fabbri Editori, 1995), repr. p. 37. |
| • | M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre”, in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by Id. (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 84-85, repr. no. 10. |
| • | C. Bertola, “Il quadro che contiene tutti i quadri”, 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. 107, not repr. |
| • | S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art / Ghent. The Collection (Gand-Amsterdam: S.M.A.K. and Ludion, 1999), repr. p. 14. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 569 pp. 580-581, repr. (detail) and col. repr. |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), col. repr. p. 307. |
