L’opera autentica, 2001
GPO-0862
The Authentic Artwork
Pencil on primed canvas, plexiglas sheet, steel cable
Primed canvas 200 x 200 cm, plexiglas sheet 62 x 62 cm
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Acquired in 2002, inventory no. 2002.1.0079 (1-2)
The plexiglas sheet must be hung from the ceiling about 30 cm from the canvas so that it can freely turn on itself, without touching it.
At the centre of the primed canvas the pencil drawing of two intersecting squares transcribes two of the endless positions that the plexiglas sheet freely suspended before the canvas by a steel cable could assume.
The transparent sheet is the original and “authentic” given that escapes any attempt at being fixed, however: the drawing reproduces – albeit “in reality” – only the hypotheses of the “model” which in its instability remains unattainable.
The same theme is further developed in the work with the same title made in 2002 (GPO-0870), reformulated in a later variant in 2006 (GPO-0949).
| 2001 | Milan, Galleria Christian Stein, Giulio Paolini. Niente e subito, 5 June - 5 September. |
| 2003 | Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Tot zo ver / Up to now, 18 April - 31 December, no catalogue. |
| • | G. Paolini, Andata e ritorno (Milan-Ravenna: Galleria Christian Stein and Danilo Montanari Editore, 2003), col. repr. pp. 37, 39. |
| • | Aanwisten / Acquisitions 1993-2003 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum, 2006), cited in the list of works from the collection p. 234, col. repr. |
