Senza titolo (Sisifo), 2009-10

The gilded frame is associated with two images that are in free fall: the reproduction of a sky at dusk and a photographic detail of Titian’s Sisyphus (1548-49), portrayed upside down. The image of the painting continues into the rectangle outlined below the frame, which contains the lower part of the body of Titian’s Sisyphus.
In the contraposition between the erect body below, and the upside-down images above, Paolini condenses the drama underlying the Greek myth of Sisyphus. Condemned to roll a huge boulder up the side of a hill, each time Sisyphus reached the top the boulder would roll back down and he would have to start over again. As a whole, for Paolini, Sisyphus represents the artist: as soon as he has the illusion of having reached his goal with a new work, he finds himself having to restart the challenge.