Aria (Teatro dei quattro Elementi), 1984
GPO-0533
Air (The Four Elements Theatre)
Pencil and collage on paper
Four framed parts 70 x 100 cm each, overall dimensions 142.5 x 202.5 cm
Private collection, Rome
The valets arranged in the four corners of the virtual room drawn on sheets placed at short intervals hold down the details of the colour reproductions, which together evoke the four Elements: from left to right, Fire (image of flames), Water (view of spurting water), Earth (detail of the top of a cypress), and Air (cut-out of night sky with the tail of a comet). “All around the cardinal points of this elementary and unchanging theatre, this dimension of eternity, the echoes of a page from art and literature books are dispersed in the air",1 as the artist tells us.
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 533 p. 545.
| 1985 | Rome, Galleria Pieroni, Giulio Paolini. Giochi d’acqua, from 15 February. |
| 1985 | Nice, Centre National d’Art Contemporain Villa Arson, L’Italie aujourd’hui. Regards sur la peinture italienne de 1970 à 1985 / Italia oggi. Sguardi sulla pittura italiana dal 1970 al 1985, 14 June - 14 October, col. repr. no. 53 p. 51. |
| 1986 | Genazzano, Castello Colonna, Sogno italiano. La collezione Franchetti a Roma, 5 July - 31 October, repr. p. 64 (erroneously titled “Trionfo della rappresentazione” and incorrect technique). |
| 1999 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Collezione Giorgio Franchetti, 12 June - 22 August, cat. no. 27 p. 78, col. repr. p. 58 (erroneously titled “Aria, acqua, terra, fuoco”). |
| 2013 | Venice, Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro, Da Giorgio Franchetti a Giorgio Franchetti. Collezionismi alla Ca’ d’Oro, 30 May - 24 November, col. repr. no. 58 (erroneously titled "Aria, acqua, terra, fuoco", with incorrect technique), referred to in the entry by F. Belloni p. 143. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2004), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), vol. 2, cat. no. 533 p. 545. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 533 p. 545, col. repr. |
| • | Galleria Pieroni 1970-1992 ([Spoltore]: Di Paolo Edizioni, 2016), repr. p. 271 (exhibition view Rome 1985). |
