Astrolabe, 1995
GPO-0758
Collage on photo print, plexiglas sheets, crystal sphere
Four photo prints and four plexiglas sheets 50 x 50 cm each, overall dimensions 10 x 103 x 103 cm
Dismantled work
The photograph that is divided into four parts, arranged on the ground at short intervals, and each of which is held down by a plexiglas sheet, reproduces a white nebula against a black background, which is formally corroborated by the crystal ball at the centre, in the point where the four elements converge.
Inscribed in the astral image are four circles, tangential to the external sides of the four photographic units. The two white circles are cut out from the picture itself, applied so that they are seen from the verso, while the other two correspond to the voids left by the cut-out shapes. The circles evoke both a planetary context and the iconographic theme of Francis Picabia's drawing cited in the title (Astrolabe, ca. 1922).
The same title marks five other works as well, made between 1967 and 1995 (GPO-0125, GPO-0127, GPO-0654, GPO-0743), including a complementary variant with the image of a solar eclipse associated with a black marble sphere (GPO-0744).
Title from Francis Picabia, Astrolabe, c. 1922, ink and watercolour on card stock, 73 x 55 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto.
| 1995 | Padua, Salone del Palazzo della Ragione, Giulio Paolini, 18 June - 23 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 47, not repr., referred to in the text by V. Baradel p. 17. |
| 1996 | Paris, Galerie Yvon Lambert, Giulio Paolini. L’ële enchantŽe, 6 January - 17 February. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), repr. no. 4 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | XLVII Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, exhibition catalogue, Venice, La Biennale di Venezia (Milan: Electa, 1997), vol. Futuro Presente Passato, col. repr. pp. 498-499 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | Artmonie. Architettura e scultura negli spazi pubblici, exhibition catalogue, Ivano Fracena, Castel Ivano, 1997, repr. p. 67 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | 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. 139, col. repr. p. 321 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), col. repr. pp. 49 (exhibition view Padua 1995), 54-55 (exhibition view Paris 1996). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 758 p. 772, col. repr. (exhibition view Paris 1996). |
| • | Arte povera 2011, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), col. repr. no. 323 (exhibition view Paris 1996), col. repr. no. 324 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | B. Satre, Giulio Paolini. Essere o non essere, 1994-95. In collezione 1 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2014), pp. 81-82, col. repr. p. 13 (exhibition view Padua 1995). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. pp. 219, 220-221 (exhibition views Padova 1995). |
