Vedo (frammenti della decifrazione del mio campo visivo), 1987
GPO-0608
I See (Fragments of the Deciphering of my Visual Field)
Two men’s shoes, xerox reproductions, pencil on paper
Overall dimensions variable
Collection of the artist
• 2013, Rome, MACRO: seven paper elements are arranged between the ground and the upper edge of the folding screen from Contemplator enim; two other images are suspended between the shoes. Eight of the nine sheets bear different images of hands: four are photographs, two are drawings. The work is hung from the centre of the ceiling so that it tops the point where the two folding screens from Contemplator enim intersect.
A pair of black men's shoes placed in precarious equilibrium, in a superelevated position, are paired with images of the artist's hand (recalled by its drawn outline or more often by photographic details), while he is making Vedo (la decifrazione del mio campo visivo), 1969 (GPO-0188).
The shoes (in Paolini they typically indicate the author) and the hand (an indication of the search for contact with an image or a work) allude to an unchanged and inescapable urgency: that of the author who from scratch and whatever happens pursues the boldest acrobatics (suggested by the elevated position of the shoes) in search of apparitions, revelations, visions.
Based on the situation of the exhibition itself, Giulio Paolini has installed the work on the ceiling (Paris 1989, New York 2015) or at the top of a wall or some other support surface (Nantes 1987, Rome 1988, Bologna 1990), with the shoes paired or each turned in a different direction, and the images scattered around or falling freely to the ground, thus simulating a dispersion (Rome 2013, London 2014).
| 1987 | Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Giulio Paolini, 16 October - 15 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 7 p. 67, repr. pp. 32-33 (exhibition view). |
| 1988-89 | Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Giulio Paolini, 24 November 1988 - 26 February 1989, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 95, repr. no. 18 (exhibition view Nantes 1987). |
| 1989 | Paris, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Giulio Paolini, 15 April - 18 May. |
| 1990 | Bologna, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Villa delle Rose, Giulio Paolini. Hotel de l’Univers, 27 May - 29 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 20 p. 17, repr. pp. 73, 77 (exhibition views). |
| 2013-14 | Rome, MACRO Museo d'arte contemporanea Roma, Giulio Paolini. Essere o non essere, 29 November 2013 - 9 March 2014, touring to: London, Whitechapel Gallery, 9 July - 14 September 2014, cited in the checklist of exhibited works pp. 154 (Rome) / 155 (London), col. repr. pp. 121 (exhibition view Rome), 125 (details), referred to in the text by I. Bernardi p. 93 and in the entry by M. Disch p. 129; repr. in the exhibition guide published by the MACRO p. 33 (exhibition view Bologna 1990, detail). |
| 2015 | New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Giulio Paolini, 6 February - 13 March, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 165, col. repr. p. 21 (exhibition view), referred to in the text by M. Disch p. 43. |
| • | Eighty. Sculpture des années 80 / Sculpture of the 80’s ([Belgium]: Eighty Publications, 1990), col. repr. p. 159 (exhibition view Paris 1989). |
| • | M. Disch, “L’atto espositivo. Appunti sul lavoro di Giulio Paolini”, 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. 131, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 608 p. 624, repr. (exhibition views Paris 1989 and Bologna 1990). |
| • | V. Biasi, Architetture del bianco. Viaggio teorico-creativo attorno alle lingue del bianco (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2009), repr. p. 112 (exhibition view Nantes 1987). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), repr. p. 205 (exhibition view Rome 1988). |
