Tutto qui, 1987
GPO-0596
That’s It
Grey and black sheets of paper in coloured frames, collage on glass, pencil on wall
Fifteen framed parts 75 x 75 cm each, overall dimensions 405 x 630 cm
Collection of the artist
• 1987, Milan, Galleria Stein: the framed elements are arranged on a long wall, gradually thinning out, and interspersed with a conspicuous number of photographs.
• 2002 , Naples, Castel Sant’Elmo: the installation was even more concentrated, with the photographs closer to the frames; the collage on the glass of the central element was added so that the figure was completely hidden.
• 2016, Milan, Galleria Stein: the photographs previously scattered on the wall are omitted, only the ones applied to the frames are kept; the installation is further concentrated; one of the black frames is now on the floor and propped up against the wall; the collage on the central element is again modified via several pencil lines, emphasizing the juxtaposition of the paper elements; two squares outlined in pencil on the wall, one open and the other closed, are added to the two lateral ends.
The figure wearing ceremonial attire and a top hat reproduced in the middle image serves as the epicentre of a dissemination of framed sheets of paper – in some cases including one or more photographs applied to the glass of the frame – arranged all around. Proceeding outwards, the colour of the sheets and the frames changes from white to black, and the photographs go from overexposure to a gradual underexposure, so that a clear area is isolated as if it were illuminated by a projector.
The hypothetical light beam pointed at the figure wearing tails (a stand-in for the author dressed as an actor, a presenter, a master of ceremonies, a wizard, a magician), intent on looking at the painting he holds before himself, evokes the circle of light that within a performance directs our attention towards the point where the climax is about to take place (in this case the manifestation of an image). Similarly, the photographs that reproduce the empty exhibition space of the Galleria Christian Stein in Via Lazzaretto in Milan, the venue where the work was first presented in 1987, underscore the stage of the display as the location par excellence where the public’s gaze waits to see something out-of-the-ordinary.
The work was conceived from the development of a first variant made in 1985 (GPO-0551).
| 1987 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini, 9 June - 27 July. |
| 1987 | Nagoya, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Giulio Paolini, 31 October - 20 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works and col. repr. p. 47 (exhibition view). |
| 1990 | Oslo, Museet for Samtidskunst, Threshold II. Specially invited artists, 12 May - 26 August, no catalogue. |
| 2002 | Naples, Castel Sant’Elmo, Grande Opera Italiana, 5 June - 22 September, col. repr. n.pag. (exhibition view Nagoya 1987). |
| 2016-17 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. Fine, 10 November 2016 - 29 April 2017, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 154, col. repr. pp. 48-51 (exhibition views), entry by M. Disch p. 154; exhibited at the venue in Pero. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 38-39 (exhibition view Milan 1987). |
| • | Terskel / Threshold 1 (Oslo), 1990, col. repr. p. 54 (exhibition view Milan 1987). |
| • | Eighty. Sculpture des années 80 / Sculpture of the 80’s ([Belgium]: Eighty Publications, 1990), col. repr. p. 158 (exhibition view Milan 1987). |
| • | R. Deidier, “La lingua della visione: Calvino e Giulio Paolini”, in Id., Le forme del tempo. Saggio su Italo Calvino (Milan: Guerini Studio, 1995), pp. 148-149, not repr. (erroneously dated "1985"); republished in Id., Le forme del tempo. Miti, fiabe, immagini di Italo Calvino (Palermo: Sellerio editore, 2004), p. 128, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre”, in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by Id. (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), pp. 110-111, repr. no. 28 (exhibition view Milan 1987). |
| • | S. Bann, “Giulio Paolini”, in Rewriting Conceptual Art, edited by M. Newman and J. Bird (London: Reaktion Books, 1999), pp. 169-170, not repr. |
| • | La forma restituita. Arte italiano de fin de milenio, exhibition catalogue, Palma de Mallorca, Centre Cultural Contemporani Pelaires, 2005, col. repr. p. 19 (exhibition view Milan 1987). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 596 pp. 610-611, col. repr. (exhibition view Naples 2002, with detail). |
| • | I. Bernardi, “Il giuoco delle parti”, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma and London, Whitechapel Gallery (Rome: Quodlibet Edizioni, 2014), p. 93 (erroneously dated “1985”), repr. p. 93 (exhibition view Naples 2002). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. pp. 276-277 (exhibition view Milan 2016). |
