Collezione privata, 1998

A series of identical gilded, empty frames, of the same size as the artist’s first work, Disegno geometrico, 1960 (GPO-0001), are arranged at equidistant intervals in parallel rows so that they form a regular pattern (their number varies depending on the dimensions of the exhibition space). This orderly grid offsets an irregular and staggered inventory of rectangles and squares of various sizes outlined on the wall. The quadrilaterals correspond to the dimensions of the works by other artists that are preserved in Paolini’s private collection (hence, the title of the work).
The presence at the same time of two registers of paintings – gilded frames and drawn quadrilaterals – reiterates the conceptual paradigm of Disegno geometrico: the frames repeat the module of a universal painting, understood as a potential container of all the past, present, and future works. The spatial framing that is meant to host any representation also recalls an ideal painting, eternally sought after by the author, which inscribes an unfathomable and absolute dimension. This dimension is also evoked by the colour gold, which for Paolini suggests the sublime. The drawn “collection”, on the contrary, evokes some of the countless identities that a painting can take on, offering a catalogue or an inventory of examples, an arbitrary register, as can be seen in the ensemble of rectangles and squares.