Epidauro (III), 1971
GPO-0213
Epidaurus (III)
Photographic fragments applied to a stretcher
150 x 190 cm
Giuliana and Tommaso Setari Collection, Paris
Pinned to the four corners of an empty stretcher, slightly distant from the edges, is a collage of corners torn from the photograph of a centimetred line on a blank sheet of paper pinned to a black background.1 The fragments are partially covered by the torn corners of the exhibition view of Quattro immagini uguali (GPO-0194) taken by Ugo Mulas in Rome in 1970.
The collage frames the empty space of the painting, marking "the temporary limits of a virtual and mutating space",2 comparable to that of a stage, as suggested by the title alluding to the seat of an ancient Greek theatre.
The same theme was formulated in another version made during the same year (GPO-0212). Moreover, the work inspired the print included in the lithograph portfolio entitled Collezione, 1974 (GPE-0013).
1 The photograph of a centimetred line has been a recurring motif in the artist's works on paper since 1965; the version where a black sheet was used has been attested to since 1968 (cf. GPC-0123).
2 G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore,1979), p. 77.
| 1995 | Ghent, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Corpus delicti. Twee privé- verzamelingen: een dialoog noord-zuid / Due collezioni private: un dialogo nord-sud, 1 July - 3 September, cited in the list of works from the collection p. 189, col. repr. p. 59 (installation view at Setari Collection). |
| 1999 | Bornholm (Denmark), Bornholms Kunstmuseum, Arte Povera. Nar holdninger tager kunstnerisk form, 17 October - 31 December, col. repr. p. 39, anonymous entry p. 28. |
| 2012 | Paris, La Maison Rouge, Retour à l'intime. La Collection Giuliana e Tommaso Setari, 20 October 2012 - 13 January 2013, col. repr. p. 104, cited in the list of works from the Collection p. 137. |
| 2014 | Vence, Château de Villeneuve, Fondation Émile Hugues, Intime conviction. Œuvres de la collection de Giuliana et Tommaso Setari, 14 June - 30 November, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 58, col. repr. p. 44 (exhibition view). |
| • | G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. Atto unico in tre quadri, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Studio Marconi (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1979), p. 77 (note taken from a commentary on the work Glossario, 1975, GPO-0301). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 213 p. 223 col. repr. |
