Giulio Paolini

Press Release

Lisson Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition of Italian artist Giulio Paolini. Often linked to the Arte Povera movement, Paolini is best known for a more strictly conceptual practice. This exhibition will present a new body of mixed media work, which investigates the figure of the author and its role in the creation of the work of art.

Since the outset of his career in the 1960s, Paolini's work has centred on the figure of the artist as an operator of language, and accomplice of the viewer through strategies of citation, duplication and fragmentation. Most recently, Paolini's incessant investigation of the definition and purpose of the work has been concerned with the act of exhibiting, which he sees as the fundamental moment of encountering the work.

The multi-part sculptural work, Immaculate Conception: Without Title/Without Author, 2008, will be the conceptual core of the exhibition: the work alludes to the 'absence of contact between the creator and (his) work, the abstention of the one referred to the pre-existence of the other' (Giulio Paolini, 2008). The main gallery space will be dedicated to a new series of installations, composed of wall drawings, Plexiglas, picture frames and paper elements. Chamber Apocalypse, 2008, depicts the author within a schematic architectural space: the figure seen from behind is holding a blank sheet of paper. After All, 2008 centres around a fragment of drawing that depicts the author in the act of observing the work itself. Paolini views the work as an autonomous entity, and the picture plane as a surface that is a depository of every possible projection of an image. The artist therefore steps aside, he is 'mute, absent, the voice is the voice of the work: but the work of art gives voice neither to the world nor the subject; it simply gives form to itself.' The works will be complemented in the upstairs gallery by a series of twenty-eight original collage studies for the work Immaculate Conception.

Giulio Paolini was born in 1940 and lives and works in Turin. He has exhibited extensively internationally, with recent solo exhibitions at Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Zurich, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster, and GAMec, Bergamo (2005) and MART, Trento e Rovereto (2004). Paolini's work has also been exhibited internationally as part of group exhibitions, including Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and Tate Modern, London (2000); Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2003) and Arte Povera: Art from Italy 1967-2002, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2002).

The artist's work is held in collections worldwide including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; Museo d´arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Tate Collection, London.
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Giulio Paolini

Exhibition Images

Installation view: Giulio Paolini, Lisson Gallery, London 26 November 2008 - 17 January 2009


All'istante [Instantly] 2006 Plexiglas case, white sheet of paper, Plexiglas plynth, crumpled-up paper ball and graphite on wall. 270 x 275 cm and 156 x 36 x 36 cm


Immacolata Concezione. Senza Titolo/Senza Autore [Immaculate Conception Without title/Without author], 2008 Transparent and reflecting Plexiglas, crystal sphere, photographic enlargement, fragments of Plexiglas 201x 256 x 257cm


Immacolata Concezione. Senza Titolo/Senza Autore [Immaculate Conception Without title/Without author], 2008 Detail


Natura morta (frammenti del mio campo visivo, 1969) [Still life (fragments of my visual field, 1969)] 2008 Plexiglas vitrine, collage and graphite on wall 250 x 368 cm


Niente e subito [nothing now] 2006 Two Plexiglas cases, drawing paper, black pencil 120 x 40 x 40 cm


Lettere da Torino, 1888 [Letters from Turin, 1888] 2008 Plexiglas structure with etched drawing, Plexiglas base and sheets, paper fragments 150 x 90 x 90 cm


Apocalisse da camera [Chamber Apocalypse] 2008 wood picture frame painted white, Plexiglas vitrine, untreated wood picture frame, sheet of Plexiglas, graphite on wall 272 x 350 cm


Installation view: Giulio Paolini, Lisson Gallery, London 26 November 2008 - 17 January 2009