Tags
Academie 3, Alfa (Un autore senza nome), Big Bang, canvases, Contemplator enim, delphi, Diaframma, frames, Giulio Paolini, Hamlet, Nothing Now, Stand In, The Author Who Thought He Existed (Curtain: Darkness Falls Over the Auditorium), to be or not to be, willing suspension of disbelief
3 September 2014
It was one of those casual visits to Whitechapel art gallery when one wants to experience the multi-faceted world of art just for fun and delight. However, the exhibition of Giulio Paolini’s artwork, named after Hamlet’s famous soliloquy ‘To be or not to be’, had much more to offer than what I had anticipated.
At the very entrance there was a big photograph of the artist himself, wearing dark glasses, arms folded, facing an empty canvas frame, and this was enough to get prepared that something different was on the show.
Let me take you through the virtual tour of this retrospective exhibition where, if you try to look for the artist you will find your own gaze reflected and deflected through a number of artworks.
The first one, Delfo or Delphi (1965), as it is titled, evokes the Delphic maxim ‘Know thyself’ and questions the role of artist as well as that of the spectator. Giulio Paolini thwarts the romantic notion of artist being a genius. Window’s empty frame clearly suggests that the artist has not been able to produce a painting. And as such, he is an unimportant person. Continue reading