Ultimo atto, 1996
GPO-0779
The Last Act
Plexiglas case, velvet stage curtain, globe, stretchers, white plinth
Two stretchers: 80 x 120 cm, 40 x 60 cm, plexiglas case 50 x 75 x 42 cm, plinth 120 x 78 x 45 cm, overall dimensions 170 x 330 x 260 cm
Dismantled work
An empty plexiglas case, set on top of a plinth, holds down a red velvet curtain that drops to the ground, while a globe is in precarious balance between two stretchers of different sizes, wedged one inside the other (the larger one is propped up against the plinth).
The situation of unstable elements, the artist explains, "suggests the epilogue of that acrobatic undertaking – the 'last act' of the 'missing' representation – that the author hands himself over to in every one of his works".1
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2006) in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 779 p. 793.
| 1997 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Sipario / Staged Art. Balla, De Chirico, Savinio, Picasso, Paolini, Cucchi, 20 February - 25 May, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 252, col. repr. p. 163. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2006), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 779 p. 793. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), col. repr. p. 329. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 779 p. 793, col. repr. |
