Entrée (Le Temple de la Gloire), 1983
GPO-0500
Golden pillow, crumpled poster
12 x 58 x 43 cm
Vittoriano and Federica Spalletti Collection, Pescara
In keeping with the title the work should be mounted at the threshold of the exhibition space.
Le Temple de la Gloire is the general subtitle of a work conceived in 1983 and reformulated in overall nine variants (GPO-0490, GPO-0492, GPO-0493, GPO-0500, GPO-0508, GPO-0510, GPO-0526, GPO-0559, GPO-0808). A constant element is the golden pilllow, on which Paolini each time proposes an "offer", while the title quotes a phrase or a verse from the opera libretto of Le Temple de la Gloire (1745) by Jean-Philippe Rameau. Depending on the exhibition itself, the arrangement of the pillow also varies, at times integrated with complementary elements.
The work is based on the contrast between the eloquence of the elegant pillow, evoking a solemn ritual – in a dimension that is outside of the flow of time – and the ephemeral futility of the object offered, which is prosaic and inconsistent.
In this variant, made for the solo show in Pescara in 1983, the crumpled up exhibition poster is placed on the pillow. As part of the first presentation, the title referred explicitly to the location of the work at the threshold of the exhibition space.
Subtitle from the opéra-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Le Temple de la Gloire, 1745.
| 1983 | Pescara, Galleria Lucrezia de Domizio, Giulio Paolini. Era vero (Averroè), from 3 November. |
| • | A. Izzo, “Giulio Paolini: la sensazione immaginaria”, in Lapis/arte 13 (Salerno), March, 1984, repr. p. VI (exhibition view Pescara 1983). |
| • | Attraversamenti. Linee della nuova arte contemporanea italiana, exhibition catalogue, Perugia, Rocca Paolina, Palazzo dei Priori, Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, 1984, repr. p. 101 (exhibition view Pescara 1983). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. “Tutto qui”, exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), repr. no. 39 (exhibition view Pescara 1983). |
| • | “Vicino a Pescara. Ristrutturare con rigore”, in Vogue Italia 434, April II, 1986, repr. pp. 168-169. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 500 p. 511, repr. (with incorrect dimensions of the base “80 x 45 x 45 cm”; exhibition view Pescara 1983). |
