Qualcuno o qualcosa, 1987
GPO-0604
Someone or Something
Plexiglas structure, mirror, lens
160 x 80 x 80 cm
Collection of the artist
At the centre of the middle plane of a plexiglas structure is a magnifying lens that is reflected in its own image in the lower reflecting plane of the whole.
Confined inside the inaccessible volume and in the closed circuit of its own double, the optical instrument makes itself manifest as such, devoid of a practical function, turning the viewer's gaze upon him or herself.
Resounding conceptually in the sound of the vague announcement referred to in the title is an unlimited potential of visions and subjects that can be associated with both the magnifying glass and the hypothetical eye that moves up close to it.
The title was conceived a few months earlier during the same year, with a first more complex version (GPO-0587), and it was also used for a later variant, made in 1988 (GPO-0627).
| 1987 | New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Giulio Paolini, 9-31 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., not repr. (erroneously cited as reproduced, the illustrated version corresponds to no. 587). |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Maloberti, “Giulio Paolini. Miramare”, in Flash Art 49, no. 329 (Milan, Italian edition), October-November, 2016, p. 55. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 604 p. 619, col. repr. |
