Voyager, 1989
GPO-0647
Portable drafting machine, men’s shoe, primed canvas, photographic reproduction on acetate, sheet of tracing paper, sheet of drawing paper
Primed canvas and print on acetate 40 x 60 cm, sheet of tracing paper 50 x 70 cm, sheet of drawing paper 35 x 50 cm
Collection of the artist
A portable drafting machine, hung from the ceiling in an open position so that thanks to its mechanical elements and measurement instruments it recalls the space shuttle evoked in the title, holds down a sheet of drawing paper and a sheet of tracing paper. On the ground, in the area corresponding to the drafting machine, is an upside-down black men's shoe lying on a reproduction on acetate of Disegno geometrico (1960, GPO-0001), partially flipped over on a primed canvas. The shoe – akin to the ceremonial attire or the top hat in other works from the 1980s – represents an indication of the author who, after his bold attempts to touch an intangible absolute dimension, comes crashing to the ground (like in La caduta di Icaro, 1981, GPO-0464, or like the protagonist of Place des Martyrs, 1982-83, GPO-0488). In the artist's own words: “The shoe is a trace of the author, who in attempting to square the spatial coordinates of the work ends up on Earth”1.
The work is part of a series of four variants, made between 1989 and 2004, which are mainly distinguished by the arrangement of the elements on the ground (GPO-0647, GPO-0651, GPO-0762, GPO-0895).
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 647 p. 665.
| 1989 | Brescia, Galleria Massimo Minini, Giulio Paolini. L’ospite, from 7 October. |
| 1995 | Castelfranco Veneto, Casa di Giorgione, L’arte attuale, 11 March - 23 April, col. repr. p. 34 (exhibition view Brescia 1989). |
| 1996 | Pordenone, Fondazione Ado Furlan, Buren, Dan Graham, Paolini, 27 November 1996 - 12 January 1997, not repr. in the exhibition booklet. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2005), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 647 p. 665. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Il “Teatro” dell’opera, exhibition catalogue, Pesaro, Galleria Franca Mancini (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1991), col. repr. p. 47 (exhibition view Brescia 1989, detail). |
| • | M. Bertoni, “Giulio Paolini. Dove Vedo”, in Critica e Documentazione 7, supplement to the bimonthly journal Segno 132 (Pescara), April, 1994, repr. p. 18 (exhibition view Brescia 1989). |
| • | M. Disch, “L’atto espositivo. Appunti sul lavoro di Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 135, repr. pp. 136, 288 (exhibition view Brescia 1989). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), repr. p. 56 (exhibition view Brescia 1989, detail). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 647 p. 665, repr. (exhibition view Brescia 1989). |
| • | Vado al massimo. Cronache dall’Italia postmoderna, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Galleria Enrico Astuni (Imola: Maretti Editore, 2020), col. repr. p. 101 (exhibition view Brescia 1989). |
| • | E. Lucchese, “Viandanti dell’arte contemporanea in Italia: De Chirico, Savinio, Nathan, Paolini”, in Visitors. Per una storia iconografica del viaggiatore, del visitatore e del turista, edited by G. Brevetti (Naples: Luciano Editore, 2025), pp. 152, 154, not repr. |
