Made in B., 1965
GPO-0072
Oil and photo emulsion on canvas
155 x 95 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the verso, centre: “Giulio Paolini / Made in B. 1965”
Private collection, Turin
The pictorial calligraphy in a grey tone, which overlaps the image of a primed canvas hanging on the wall, calls into question the concept of the painting itself, which becomes a material support on the one hand, and a pre-existing image on the other. “The photographic canvas institutes a sort of 'double wall': a material barrier that arrests the pictorial sign on the surface, and at the same time a virtual space that opens up further ahead, from another time and in a more distant place",1 says the artist, in retrospect.
Akin to Académie 3 (GPO-0082), which was made during the same year, here as well the pictorial material and the image of the blank canvas remain two distant subjects that never correspond, staggered in time and in space.
The title refers to the commercial brand for the product indicating the place where the tube of paint was made (“Made in Belgium”).
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 72 p. 103.
| 1965 | Turin, Galleria Notizie, Accardi, Castellani, Paolini, Pistoletto, Twombly, 28 May - 15 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works, not repr. |
| 2004-05 | Genoa, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Attraversare Genova. Percorsi e linguaggi internazionali del contemporaneo. Anni ’60-’70, 11 November 2004 - 27 February 2005, col. repr. p. 223. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2003), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 72 p. 103. |
| • | Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), repr. no. 56. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), repr. p. 133 (with incorrect dimensions “150 x 90 cm”). |
| • | M. Bandini, M.C. Mundici, M.T. Roberto, Luciano Pistoi: “inseguo un mio disegno” (Turin: Hopefulmonster editore, 2008), repr. p. 41 (visible in the background). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 72 p. 103, col. repr. |
| • | I. Bernardi, Giulio Paolini. Opere su carta: un laboratorio gestuale per la percezione dell’immagine (Turin: Prinp Editore, 2017), pp. 65, 132, col. repr. p. 65. |
| • | F. Fergonzi, Una nuova superficie. Jasper Johns e gli artisti italiani 1958-1966 (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2019), pp. 183-184, col. repr. p. 186. |
