Parole al vento, 2021
GPO-1127
Words Out of Thin Air
Digital print on high-tech fabric
131 x 186 cm
The work was executed in a numbered edition of six plus one pre-production proof.
| 1/6 | Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como |
| 2/6 | Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como |
| 3/6 | Collection of the artist |
| 4/6 | Collection of the artist |
| 5/6 | Collection of the artist |
| 6/6 | Collection of the artist |
| P.P.P. | Private collection |
The flag reproduces various national flags, all turned in the same direction as they flutter in the blue sky.
Rather than represent an entity or a State, the “flag of flags” offers the image of multiple flags that, deprived of their symbolic value, represent nothing other than themselves. In the words of the artist himself: “An assembly of ‘voices’ entrusted to the wind and all turned in the same direction formulates a univocal image, but one that is still susceptible to variants and contradictions: a composite unity that takes on aspects that are constantly evolving. If a flag, by definition, evokes the identity of a State or an organization, this version seems to fail its original vocation and instead exhibit the coexistence of different traits”.”1
The theme of the flag was dealt with by the artist in a similar way on two previous occasions – in Averroè, 1967 (GPO-0138), and in Senza titolo, 1969 (GPC-0153), respectively, while the tautological aspect recalls the flag Senza titolo (senza figura), made in 1986-87 (GPO-0600).
1 G. Paolini, note to the work, 17 October 2020.
| 2021-22 | Como, Chilometro della Conoscenza, Il sogno di Antonio. Un viaggio tra arte e tessuto, 10 October 2021 - 20 February 2022, col. repr. p. 39; pre-production proof. |
| • | G. Paolini in Il sogno di Antonio. Un viaggio tra arte e tessuto, exhibition brochure, Como, Chilometro della Conoscenza (Como: Fondazione Antonio Ratti, 2021), p. 39. |
| • | A. Soldaini, “‘Cos’altro c’è da dire?’”, in Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), p. 30, col. repr. |
