Studio per “Rinascita di Venere”, 2017
GPC-1637
Study for “Rinascita di Venere”
Collage on black paper
48 x 40 cm
Titled, signed, and dated on the verso, centre: “Studio per / “Rinascita di Venere” / Giulio Paolini / 2017”
Private collection
The reproduction of Cleomenes of Apollodorus’ Venus de' Medici is associated, below, with a shell, and, above, with the torn image of a marine wave, hiding the figure’s face. Both motifs harken back to the Greek myth, according to which Venus sprang from the foam of the sea and arrived on the island of Cyprus reclining on a seashell.
The Goddess of Beauty, for Paolini Venus symbolizes a timeless ideal, which subtracts itself from every attempt at appropriation, as indicated by her hidden face: a sublime dimension, emphasized by the gilded background, that no gaze can fix in a finished image. Beauty is the mirage on the horizon that the artist never loses sight of, in spite of being aware of its intangibility.
The work is part of a small series of studies for the large-scale work titled Rinascita di Venere, 2017 (GPO-1061).
Figure: Cleomenes son of Apollodorus, Medici Venus, late 1st century BC, marble, h 153 cm, Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence.
Seashell: Sandro Botticelli, Nascita di Venere, 1485-86, tempera on canvas, 172 x 278 cm, Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence.
| 2018 | Naples, Alfonso Artiaco, Giulio Paolini. Rinascita di Venere, 16 February - 31 March. |
