Senza titolo, 1963

A colour reproduction of a view of Vernazza is mounted on a masonite support with adhesives on the back so that it protrudes from the stretcher that is just slightly wider. On the retro is the photographic detail of a female face.
This work is part of a group of works (from GPO-0028 to GPO-0049) whose common denominator is the presence of an intervention on both the recto and the verso of the painting. Surfaces of various types take turns appearing on the recto (painted paper, graph paper, photographic reproductions, shaped wooden panels), while on the verso (hidden from view) we find the details of images and printed words taken from magazines or from books (whether or not a textual element is present determines the title of the work or, contrarily, the lack of a title, such as in this case).
In this work, just as in two other works from the same year (GPO-0041, GPO-0043), an image appears in its own right for the first time. The choice of subjects does not follow any logical criterion; the image is first of all involved as such: the "iconography is random, almost involuntary", says the artist; "the image is as though it were the image of the image, almost as if to justify the very existence of the painting”.1

1 G. Paolini in G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), p. 33 (revised translation, republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant [Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003], p. 110), reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019), p. 33.