Cy problem, 1967
GPO-0130
Photographic fragments applied to primed canvas
100 x 70 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the verso, upper centre: “Giulio Paolini / Cy problem / 1967”
Private collection, Turin
The fragments of a photograph torn into four parts, which reproduces a detail from the triptych Problem I, II, III (1966) by Cy Twombly – depicting a rectangle delineated in white against a black background – are arranged so that they jut out just slightly in the areas corresponding to the four corners of a primed canvas. By dilating the perimeter outlined by Twombly, and eventually opening it onto the void of the canvas, Paolini expands the motif of the framing, which announces the space of a painting to come.
A larger version of the work was made in 1971, and dismantled by the author himself soon after it was realized (GPO-0210).
Cy Twombly, Problem I, II, III, 1966, oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, three elements: 200 x 122 cm, 200 x 108 cm, 200 x 112 cm, Museum für moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main; reproduction from Cy Twombly, exhibition catalogue, Turin, Galleria Notizie, February, 1967, n. pag.
| 1990 | Turin, Galleria In Arco, Arte Povera, 14 June - 15 September, cat. no. 28, repr. n. pag. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), repr. p. 207. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 130 p. 152, col. repr. |
| • | M. Dantini, “Gradus ad Parnassum. Giulio Paolini, ‘Autoritratto’, 1969”, in Palinsesti. Contemporary Italian Art On-Line Journal 1, no. 2 (Udine), 2011, p. 3, repr.; republished in Id., Geopolitiche dell'arte (Milan: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012), p. 99, not repr. |
