Giulio Paolini was born in Genoa in 1940. He studied graphic arts at the Giambattista Bodoni State Industrial Technical School of Graphics and Photography in Turin. Usually associated with the Arte Povera movement, Paolini embodies the conceptual branch of Italian postmodernity.
Following his first solo exhibition at Galleria La Salita in Rome in 1964, he developed a series of pieces that sought to interrogate the position of the canvas in space. He produced somewhat bare works embedded within each other, presenting the painting as an image of itself. In the latter part of the 1960s, Paolini turned to photography for its objectivity and temporality.
The 1970s saw Paolini draw upon myriad references to antiquity, both through traditional techniques and contemporary methods such as installation, performance, collage and furniture. His use of reproduction – copies or doubles – and fragments became more prominent elements of his work, such as in Mimesi (1975–1976), where two identical plasters of Venus face each other, revealing the ambiguity of the copy.
Following the Universal Exhibition (1994–1997), Paolini switched his attention to scenography and the exhibition space itself and its relationship with the viewers who inhabit it. As his thought process evolved, his installations grew more complex, blending minimal aesthetic and philosophical aspirations inherited from antiquity to question his own identity as an artist.
Since his first participation in a group exhibition in 1961 (XII Premio Lissone internazionale per la pittura, Palazzo del Centro del Mobile, Lissone) and his first solo exhibition in 1964 (Galleria La Salita, Rome), he has held numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world. His standout anthological exhibitions include those at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014), Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2005), the Prada Foundation, Milan (2003), Neue Galerie at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria (1998), the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome (1988), Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (1986), Nouveau Musée, Villeurbanne, France (1984) and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1980). He was invited to four editions of documenta in Kassel, Germany (1972, 1977, 1982, 1992) and 10 editions of the Venice Biennale (1970, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2013). Paolini also created sets and costumes for theatre, most notably with Carlo Quartucci in the 1980s and Federico Tiezzi for two works by Wagner in the 2000s.
