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Né copia né originale, 2001

GPO-0861

Neither Copy nor Original

Pencil and collage on paper in plexiglas case, engraved plexiglas sheet with central cut-out, steel cables

Plexiglas case 30 x 30 cm, plexiglas sheet 60 x 60 cm, overall dimensions 60 x 60 x15 cm

Private collection

A plexiglas sheet with a window cut out at the centre hangs from the ceiling by two steel cables, not far from the wall on which, in the area corresponding to the cut-out, is a plexiglas case with a collage inside. Carved into the lower part of the hanging sheet are two oblique lines that optically continue the perspectival drawing outlined in the collage, where it acts as a support surface for the crumpled up drawing filled with doodling.
The perspectival drawing that develops from the collage to the plexiglas sheet or vice versa attests to a direct relationship between the two parts, but at the same time it generates an ambiguity: does the collage on the wall correspond to the part that is missing in the sheet? Would that make it the original, or rather a copy of that missing square? The title seems to suggest the solution – “Né copia né originale” (Neither Copy nor Original) – but actually it defines the very dilemma concerning the identity of the elements at play as the true subject of the work.

2001 Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. Niente e subito, 5 June - 5 September.
G. Paolini, Andata e ritorno (Milan-Ravenna: Galleria Christian Stein and Danilo Montanari Editore, 2003), col. repr. p. 33.
Entry by Maddalena Disch, 22/07/2026