Sotto le stelle, 2020
GPO-1099
Under the Stars
Medal display case, compass, fragments of photographic reproductions
25 x 35 cm
Titled, signed, and dated on the verso, centre: “”Sotto le stelle” / Giulio Paolini / 2020”
Private collection
A gilt wooden medal holder featuring a piece of blue velvet studded with gilt hooks holds a compass at the centre, and the torn fragments of a galactic image, attached to the hooks in the medal holder, all around it, suggesting the arduous search for the ideal route or the correct orientation in an incommensurable space.
The title establishes a dual visual paradox between reality and imagination, on the one hand, recalling the starry sky via the constellation of gilt hooks, and on the other, retracing the vision of the universe “under the stars” by way of the sidereal image.
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-0717, GPO-1096 and GPO-1182 versions, the work does not include a nebula of gilt nails scattered around the medal holder.
