Sotto le stelle, 1992-93

A medal holder in gilded wood, with blue velvet inside studded with gilded hooks, contains an upside-down blue hat. It is surrounded by the circular cut-outs of planetary images, so that it resembles an object in the celestial space. Applied to the lining of the hat is a fragment of an image in which the Earth, at the bottom and upside down, stands out.
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). Akin to the GPO-1096, GPO-1099 and GPO-1182 versions, the work does not include a nebula of gilt nails scattered around the medal holder.