In scena (Gilles), 2021

The image in a plexiglas case set down on the easel reproduces Jean-Antoine Watteau’s Gilles (taken from his painting Pierrot, dit autrefois Gilles, 1718-19) inserted in the background of a drawn curtain. Propped up on the chair located up close to the easel is a gilt frame, while a piece of cloth, also golden, falls to the ground like the red curtain visible to the left in the photographic image.
The ensemble of elements at play opens and at the same time closes the announcement of a performance. “Gilles, the actor on stage, manifests that he is extraneous to the place and the role, as he exchanges a mute gaze with us, the spectators”, says the artist. The empty frame alludes to a painting that is as yet unfinished (akin to the drawn curtain that alludes to a performance that is yet to come) while the chair refers to the figure of the author who has left the scene in the silence of a wait that is unspecified.

1 G. Paolini in conversation with B. Della Casa, 19 March 2021.