Dilemma, 1993
GPO-0720
Pencil on primed canvas and on reversed canvas, broken plaster cast, plexiglas plinth
Nine canvases 60 x 60 cm each, plinth 120 x 60 x 60 cm, overall dimensions 243 x 183 x 73 cm
DaimlerChrysler AG, Stuttgart
The pencil drawing on the ensemble of eight canvases placed close together on the wall, turned so that they are viewed either from the recto or the verso, recalls the image of a framed painting, and at the same time the spatial scheme of a room seen in perspective. The canvas held between the broken wings of the plaster cast loaded onto a plexiglas plinth calls into play the "dilemma" by way of which it corresponds to both the painting on the wall and the space with the physical bodies, on this side of the space of the representation.
In this sense, the work questions the two dimensions or perspectives of the interpretation that define a painting as such: the virtual space of the two-dimensional representation, inside the painting (the drawing, the perspective), and the real space of the canvas as a support of visions and physical materiality, on this side of the painting (overturned canvases, canvas on the edge, broken cast).
The same title was used for two other “dilemmas” concerning the dimension of the representation, made in 1989 (GPO-0639) and in 1995 (GPO-0747), respectively.
| 1994 | Genoa, Galleria Locus Solus, Giulio Paolini. Locus Solus, from 20 May, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. H2 p. 76 (erroneously dated “1990-93”), col. repr. p. 67. |
| 1999 | Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Geometrie als Gestalt - Strukturen der modernen Kunst von Albers bis Paik. Werke der Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, 30 April - 11 July, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 60 p. 200, col. repr. p. 143. |
| 2000 | Zurich, Haus für konstruktive und konkrete Kunst, Von Albers bis Paik. Konstruktive Werke aus der Sammlung DaimlerChrysler, 13 May - 30 July, repr. p. 50 cat. no. 30. |
| 2001-02 | Berlin, Daimler Chrysler Contemporary, Geometrical Affairs. Neuerwerbungen und Werke aus der Sammlung, 27 October 2001 - 3 February 2002, no catalogue. |
| 2002 | Sindelfingen, Galerie der Stadt, Kunst aus der Sammlung DaimlerChrysler. Geometrical Affairs / Cars, 5 May - 3 July, col. repr. n. pag., with anonymous entry. |
| 2003-06 | Karlsruhe, ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, The DaimlerChrysler Collection. 100 Positionen aus über 60 Jahren, 24 May - 31 August, touring to: Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 28 October 2003 - 18 January 2004; Pretoria, Pretoria Art Museum, 21 March - 27 June 2004; Tokyo, Tokyo Opera City Gallery, 14 January - 26 March 2006, col. repr. p. 13 (exhibition view Sindelfingen 2002). |
| 2013 | Brescia, Museo di Santa Giulia, Novecento mai visto. Highlights from the Daimler Art Collection. From Albers to Warhol to (now), 8 March - 30 June. |
| • | M. Disch, “Giulio Paolini. Hors-d’oeuvre”, in Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by Id. (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), p. 120, repr. no. 35. |
| • | Kounellis, Paladino, Paolini, Bianchi, exhibition catalogue, [Rome], Associazione Culturale Dogana, [1996], col. repr. n. pag. |
| • | M. Disch, “Le sette stanze dell’esposizione. L’opera e il gioco proibito della (sua) visione”, in Giulio Paolini. Premio Internazionale Koinè 2000 alla carriera, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti (Milan: Electa, 2001), pp. 46-47, repr. p. 46. |
| • | Daimler Art Collection, booklet, edited by R. Wiehager (Stuttgart: Daimler AG, 2007), p. 25, col. repr. (exhibition view Tokyo 2006). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 720 p. 735, col. repr. |
