Studio per “Idem (III)”, 1973
GPO-1180
Study for “Idem (III)”
Pencil on tracing paper, graph paper, plexiglas cases
Four framed parts 34.2 x 50.9 cm each, overall dimensions 70 x 104 cm
Signed, titled, and dated on the verso of the first element, on the sheet of graph paper, centre: “Giulio Paolini / Studio per / “Idem (III)” / 1973”
Private collection, Naples
The installation requires the juxtaposition of the sixteen units at short intervals, thus forming a rectangle comprising 2 x 2 elements, and as such confirming the criterion of adjacency that defines the design making up the work.
Four pencil drawings on tracing paper, each placed on a sheet of graph paper, are contained inside plexiglas cases of the exact same dimensions, arranged at short intervals in two parallel rows. The drawings feature a close-knit series of rectangles and squares of various dimensions, at times separated by a triangle, a circle, a diamond, or a hexagon.
The work represents a smaller version of the large-format work titled Idem III (regesto delle opere come motivo a spazi adiacenti) (GPO-0261), executed in the same year. In the artist's own words, Idem III is conceived as the hypothetical register of all the works in existence, that have existed, or that may exist: both abstract and virtual, it allows me to proceed in time and in the history of art by listing without naming them the images that comprise it”.1
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2008), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 245 p. 254.
