Italia antiqua, 2014-15

The work is part of a series of variations with the same title whose common denominator is an engraving representing the ancient Circus Flaminius in Rome as a “container” or “arena” that, time after time, embraces an echo of the past, evoked by an antique sculpture or by other figures and fragments.
In this case, the arena embraces the image of an obelisk around which fall the photographic fragments of a starry sky. The scene is illuminated by the star at the top of the obelisk.
In the series titled Italia antiqua Paolini uses citations from antiquity – a practice Paolini first adopted in the 1960s – making way for a constant coming to terms with art history, thereby keeping alive the dialogue between past and present.
Some of the works in the series were exhibited on the occasion of Expositio, a solo exhibition held at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan in 2016.