Qualcuno o qualcosa, 1987
GPO-0587
Someone or Something
Plexiglas structure, mirror, photographic fragments
160 x 80 x 80 cm
Private collection, Rome
On the middle level of the plexiglas structure a multitude of fragments from a reproduction of Disegno geometrico, 1960 (GPO-0001) isolates an empty area that is the same size as the artist's first painting. The bottom of the structure that touches the floor is a mirror.
The resounding nature of the vague announcement referred to in the title accompanies the echo of "something" that already was and in which, conceptually, an endless potential of paintings resounds (as is evoked by the reference to Disegno geometrico). A potential that is called into question also through the vacant square and the virtuality of the reflections in the mirror.
The same theme was also developed in two other later variants, one of them made during the same year (GPO-0604) and the other dated 1988 (GPO-0627).
| 1987 | Rome, Galleria Pieroni, Giulio Paolini, from 7 February. |
| 1990 | Palermo, Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana, Totalnovo, 26 January - 2 March, repr. p. 84. |
| 2004 | Milan, Palazzo della Triennale, Da Balla alla Transavanguardia. Cento anni di arte italiana alla Farnesina, 11-30 May, col. repr. p. 82. |
| 2005 | New Delhi, National Gallery of Modern Art, Italian Art 1950-1970 Masterpieces from the Farnesina Collection / Arte Italiana 1950-1970 Capolavori dalla Collezione Farnesina, February-March, col. repr. n. pag. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with M. Maloberti, “Giulio Paolini. Miramare”, in Flash Art 49, no. 329 (Italian edition), October-November, 2016, p. 55. |
| • | C. Owens, “Giulio Paolini”, in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, 1987, n. pag., repr. no. IV (exhibition view Rome 1987, with incorrect caption referred to the exhibited version, cf. GPO-0604). |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. p. 143 (exhibition view Rome 1987). |
| • | Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Milan-Rome: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore and De Luca Edizioni d’Arte, 1988), col. repr. no. 27 (exhibition view Rome 1987). |
| • | F. Poli, “L’io dell’artista, l’io della pittura”, in Id., Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), p. 18, not repr. |
| • | M. Bertoni, “Giulio Paolini. Dove Vedo”, in Critica e Documentazione 7, supplement to the bimonthly journal Segno 132 (Pescara), April, 1994, p. 25, not repr.; republished in M. Bertoni, Tempi e forme. Una ricerca sulle arti visive contemporanee (Turin: Hopefulmonster editore, 1998), p. 210, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 587 p. 602, col. repr. (exhibition view Rome 1987). |
| • | V. Biasi, Architetture del bianco. Viaggio teorico-creativo attorno alle lingue del bianco (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2009), repr. p. 114 (exhibition view Rome 1987, with incorrect indication of the technique referred to another version of Qualcuno o qualcosa). |
| • | Galleria Pieroni 1970-1992 ([Spoltore]: Di Paolo Edizioni, 2016), col. repr. p. 320 (exhibition view Rome 1987). |
