Sotto le stelle, 1985-93
GPO-0718
Under the stars
Medal display case, hat, crumpled golden paper, fragments of photographic reproduction, gilded nails
Medal display case 38 x 48 cm, overall dimensions variable
Private collection, Turin
A medal holder in gilded wood, with blue velvet inside studded with gilded hooks, contains an upside-down hat that in turn contains the torn pieces of a sheet of golden paper: other fragments from the same paper are arranged on the hooks of the medal holder. Scattered all around is a multitude of gilded nails, some of which hold down the details of a star chart and other fragments of golden paper, which gradually thin out as they move outwards.
The title establishes a twofold visual paradox between reality and imagination: in addition to using the constellation of hooks and nails to recall the starry sky, it also invites the viewer to interpret the work on the wall in terms of the bottom up perspective, as if the object contained in the medal holder really were "under" the stars.
The work is part of a series of thirteen variants, made between 1985 and 2025, which are distinguished by the presence of one or more medal holders, their dimensions, and, above all, the intervention that is associated with them (GPO-0556, GPO-0563, GPO-0594, GPO-0595, GPO-0606, GPO-0615, GPO-0632, GPO-0717, GPO-0718, GPO-0891, GPO-1096, GPO-1099, GPO-1182).
| 1994 | Genoa, Galleria Locus Solus, Giulio Paolini. Locus Solus, from 28 January, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. D1 p. 72 (erroneously dated “1990-93”), col. repr. p. 27 (exhibition view). |
| • | A. Querci, “Giulio Paolini, la métaphore du damier”, in El guía. Art de l’arc méditerranéen 7, no. 2 (Barcelona), February, 1994, col. repr. p. 63 (exhibition view Genoa 1994). |
| • | Kounellis, Paladino, Paolini, Bianchi, exhibition catalogue, [Rome], Associazione Culturale Dogana, [1996], col. repr. n. pag. (exhibition view Genoa 1994). |
| • | T. Wada, “Giulio Paolini. Artist Interview 1”, in BT Bijutsu Techo 50, no. 755 (Tokyo), May, 1998, col. repr. p. 197 (exhibition view Genoa 1994). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999 , vol. 2, (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 718 p. 733, col. repr. (exhibition view Genoa 1994). |
