Expositio, 1994
GPO-0737
Plaster casts, grey plinths, reflecting plexiglas sheets
Four casts 115 x 40 x 58 cm each, four plinths 180 x 60 x 60 cm each, overall dimensions 330 x 130 x 130 cm
SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen
Acquired in 2019, inventory no. 3750
From March 1999 to October 2000 on loan at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin
• 1994, Amiens, Musée des Beaux-Arts: the plinths were painted white and the objects held down between the casts were three elements making up a picture: a golden frame, a stretcher, and a plexiglas sheet.
• 2001, Sassuolo, Palazzo Ducale: the plinths were painted grey; a second frame (in natural wood) was placed on the shoulders of one of the casts; another stretcher and a large plexiglas sheet were held between the plinths, in a horizontal and a vertical position, respectively.
• 2016, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli: all the elements previously associated with the casts are omitted in favour of reflecting elements (irregular shapes, as if they were the fragments of a shattered mirror) arranged in between the casts.
Four plaster casts of the Phidias Venus, rotated 90 degrees with respect to each other and placed on four tall plinths placed close together at the centre of the room, are associated with several reflecting plexiglas sheets, in various formats, arranged between the casts.
Expositio calls into question the visibility of a subject that albeit declaredly "exhibited" subtracts itself from our gaze. Everything is visible from all sides, but nothing is defined in a privileged vision: deceived by the reflections, by the fragmentation and the specular refractions, we chase in a circle what is exposed to the "four winds", without ever managing to find the ideal point of view, risking not just losing our bearings, but also the object we seek. We look at a classical sculpture as a whole, and yet, in the here and now of its exhibition, the vision that occurs comes apart the instant it is announced.
Phidias, Venus, h 115 cm.
| 1994 | Amiens, Musée de Picardie, Le modèle, le double, l’identique, 25 June - 16 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 45 (dated “1989-94”), col. repr. pp. 26-27 (exhibition views). |
| 2001 | Sassuolo, Palazzo Ducale, Presenze italiane, 16 September - 18 November, col. repr. p. 65 (exhibition view), referred to in the text by F. Trevisani pp. 30-31. |
| 2007 | Turin, Palazzo Chiablese, Sala degli Arazzi, 21 March - July, temporary exhibition as part of the presentation of the renovated spaces of the Palazzo Chiablese after restoration, col. repr. p. 51 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001), entry pp. 48, 51. |
| 2016 | Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Expositio. Giulio Paolini per il Museo Poldi Pezzoli, 6 May - 5 September; col. repr. p. 49 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001), entry by M. Disch p. 48, referred to in the text by E. Coen pp. 17, 19. |
| 2020-21 | Sindelfingen, Schauwerk, There is another way of looking at things, 5 September 2020 - 24 May 2021, no catalogue, cited in the checklist of exhibited works in the in the exhibition guide, n. pag., not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Turin, GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin: Hopefulmonster, 1999), col. repr. p. 51 (installation view at Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, 1999). |
| • | Arte all’arte. IV edizione: 1999, exhibition catalogue, San Gimignano, Arte Continua, 1999, repr. p. 198 (installation view at Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, 1999). |
| • | Palazzo Chiablese. Gli spazi rinnovati dopo il restauro, edited by F. Pernice (Turin: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali; Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici del Piemonte; Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e per il Paesaggio del Piemonte, 2007), entry pp. 48, 51, col. repr. 51 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
| • | Claudio Abate. Fotografo, exhibition catalogue, MART Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (Milan: Edizioni Photology, 2007), col. repr. p. 118 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 737 pp. 750-751, col. repr. (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
| • | R. Gramiccia, Fragili eroi. Ritratti d'artista (Rome: Derive Approdi, 2009), col. repr. no. 60 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
| • | G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), col. repr. p. 313 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
| • | The Classical Now, exhibition catalogue, Strand (London), Bush House Arcade e Inigo Rooms at Somerset House East Wing King’s College London (London: Elephant Publishing, 2018), p. 57, repr. p. 56 (exhibition view Milan 2016). |
| • | Claudio Abate. Un progetto di Germano Celant (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2023), col. repr. no. 526 p. 389 (exhibition view Sassuolo 2001). |
