Giulio Paolini

Often linked to the Arte Povera movement, Giulio Paolini is best known for an artistic practice that is inscribed in a more strictly conceptual sphere. From the outset of his career, Paolini has developed a complex research centred as much on the artist's tools as on the figure of the artist as an operator of language and accomplice of the viewer. The main characteristics of his artistic expression include citation, duplication and fragmentation, which are used as expedients for staging the distance between a finished model for making the work a 'theatre of evocation.' Articulated and composed designs, centred on additive dynamics (ordering, repetition, juxtaposition) and centrifugal forces, (explosions and dispersions starting from the centre) or centripetal ones (concentration, superimposition, joining), accompany the procedures drawing from a vast store of cultural mythologies and memories that are recaptured in photography, collage and plaster casts. More recently, Paolini's incessant investigation of the definition and purpose of the work has been insistently concerned with the act of exhibiting, which he sees as the fundamental moment of encountering the work.

Giulio Paolini lives and works in Turin, Italy. Major solo exhibitions include the Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy (2022); Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy (2021); Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy (2020); Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy (2020); Repetto Gallery, London, UK (2019); Fondazione Carriero, Milan, Italy (2018); Center for Italian Modern Art, New York City, NY, USA (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2014); MACRO Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy (2013); Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, Italy (2010); Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy (2009); Kunstmuseum Winthertur, Switzerland (2005); Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy (2004); Museo D’Arte Contemporanea, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy (1999); Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy (1988); and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA (1985). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2018); State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia (2018); Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2015); Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France (2013); and The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (2012). His work has been included in many editions of the Venice Biennale, Italy (2013, 2011, 1997, 1995, 1993, 1986, 1984, 1980, 1978, 1976, 1970) and 'documenta', Kassel, Germany (1982, 1977, 1972). His work features in numerous international public and private collections, including Tate Collection, London, UK; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, USA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA; The Art Institute, Chicago, IL, USA; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany; Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Rome, Italy; and Musée d’Art Moderne, Brussels, Belgium.

Recent, current and forthcoming projects

'Quando è il presente?' Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy (18 March – 7 Sep 2022)

Giulio Paolini
Immacolata Concezione. Senza Titolo / Senza Autore (Immaculate Conception. Without Title / Without Author)

2007 - 08
Mirrored Plexiglas platform, transparent Plexiglas volumes, Plexiglas sheets and fragments, Plexiglas sheet with engraved drawing, crystal sphere, photo enlargement 201 x 256 x 257 cm / 79 1/8 x 100 5/8 x 101 1/4 in.

Giulio Paolini
Immacolata Concezione. Senza Titolo / Senza Autore (Immaculate Conception. Without Title / Without Author)

Giulio Paolini
Apocalisse da camera (Chamber Apocalypse)

2008
Wooden picture frame painted white, Plexiglas vitrine, untreated wooden picture frame, Plexiglas sheet, graphite on wall 272 x 350 cm / 107 x 137 3/4 in.

Giulio Paolini
Letters from Turin, 1888

2008
Plexiglas structure with etched drawing, Plexiglas base and sheets, paper fragments 150 x 90 x 90 cm / 59 x 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.

Giulio Paolini
Letters from Turin, 1988

2008
Plexiglas structure with etched drawing, Plexiglas base and sheets, paper fragments 150 x 90 x 90 cm / 59 x 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.

Giulio Paolini
Studio per "Immacolata Concezione (Senza titolo / Senza Autore)" - Study for "Immaculate Conception (Without Title / Without Author)"

2007 - 08
Pencil and collage on paper Each framed: 62 x 49.8 cm / 24 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.

Giulio Paolini
Studio per "Immacolata Concezione (Senza titolo / Senza Autore)" - Study for "Immaculate Conception (Without Title / Without Author)"

2007 - 08
Pencil and collage on paper Each framed: 62 x 49.8 cm / 24 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.

Giulio Paolini
Niente e subito (Nothing and Immediately)

2006
Two Plexiglas plinths, sheet of drawing paper, black pencil 120 x 40 x 40 cm / 47 1/4 x 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.

Giulio Paolini
Senza titolo (Untitled), 1964

2005
Plywood panels, pencil on paper and on wood Dimensions variable Photo: © Paolo Mussat Sartor, Turin

Giulio Paolini
Terra di nessuno (No Man's Land)

2005
Plexiglas sheets, metal trestels, chair, black pencil, drawings and sheets of paper Dimensions variable Photo: © Luciano Romano, Naples

Giulio Paolini
Astrolabe

1994
Photographs, Plexiglas sheets, marble sphere Dimensions variable

Giulio Paolini
Expositio

1994
Plaster casts, plinths painted grey, golden frame, stretchers, Plexiglas sheets, passe-partout Dimensions variable Photo: © Claudio Abate, Rome

Giulio Paolini
Due per uno (Two For One)

1993 - 94
Red pencil on prepared canvas, pencil on overturned canvas Dimensions variable

Giulio Paolini
Künstler-Theater (The Artist's Theatre)

1989
Prepared canvases, pencil on canvas, photograph, halogen lamps, clip-on spotlights, pages from art publications, pencil and red pencil on wall Overall dimensions variable

Giulio Paolini
Cythère

1983 - 90
Colour photograph, frame with broken glass, easel, canvases, stretchers Dimensions variable Photo: © Paolo Mussat Sartor, Turin

Giulio Paolini
Mnemosine (Les Charmes de la Vie / 8)

1981 - 90
Acrylic on canvas, stretchers, black pencil and red pencil on prepared canvas Dimensions variable

Giulio Paolini
Mnemosine (Les Charmes de la Vie / 3 - 6)

1981 - 87
Acrylic on canvas, plaster casts Dimensions variable

Giulio Paolini
Big Bang

1997-1998
Plexiglas Volumes, Primed Canvases, chair, miniature objects, clip-on spotlights, sheets of drawing paper, balls of crumpled paper Dimensions variable