In cornice, 2023
GPO-1155
Framed
Plaster cast, white plinth, gilt frames, gilt frame applied to a photo print mounted on Dibond
Plaster cast h 87 cm, plinth 100 × 50 × 50 cm, photo print mounted on Dibond 120 × 180 cm, overall dimensions 220 x 180 x 165 cm
Private collection
A plinth, located a short distance from the wall, acts as a support for the plaster cast of a female figure with her hands outstretched, and several gilt frames, arranged at random up against the very same plinth. On the wall, a drawing of squares that are staggered amongst themselves, with a gilt frame applied at the centre, recalls the ensemble of frames propped up against the plinth.
The gesture of the figure, seemingly hesitant in its choice of one or the other frame, uncertain as to whether and how to portray herself, evokes the very becoming of a work, that is to say, the moment that precedes the manifestation of an image.
In the artist's own words: “In making this work I wanted to create the image of a figure that enjoys 'placing itself inside a frame'. [...] In this sort of dance of the frames, one of them, as if it had been chosen among the others, is displayed on the portico wall".1
1 G. Paolini in the interview by A. Soldaini, "In dialogo", in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), p. 100.
Female figure with peplum, unknown source.
| 2023 | Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, 20 April - 15 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 304, col. repr. pp. 58-61 (exhibition views), referred to in texts by A. Soldaini pp. 38-39, F. Guzzetti pp. 74-75. |
| 2023-24 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. Tutto e niente, 20 October 2023 - 17 February 2024. |
| • | G. Paolini, “A come Accademia”, in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), p. 21; republished in G. Paolini, Eccomi. Qui dove sono (Turin: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, 2025), p. 88. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with A. Soldaini, “In dialogo”, ibid., p. 100. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with G. dalla Chiesa, “Giulio Paolini. Una conversazione”, in art a part of cult(ure), online journal, 23 May 2023. |
| • | F. Miglietta, ”Trascrizione e memorie. Dialogo con Giulio Paolini”, in Abitacolo. Forme e linguaggi del contemporaneo 24-25, no. 1 (Cosenza), 2023-24, repr. p. 49 (detail, exhibition view Rome 2023). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia ego, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2024), col. repr. p. 39 (exhibition view Milan 2023). |
| • | G. Paolini, Eccomi. Qui dove sono (Turin: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini, 2025), col. repr. p. 89 (exhibition view Milan 2023). |
