Giulio Paolini

Giulio Paolini was born on November 5th, 1940 in Genoa, and lives in Turin. Since his first participation in a group exhibition (1961) and his first solo show (1964), he has had countless exhibitions in galleries and museums the world over. His major retrospectives include: the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma (1976), Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1980), Nouveau Musée in Villeurbanne (1984), Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart (1986), Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome (1988), Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz (1998), GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin (1999), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2003), Kunstmuseum in Winterthur (2005), MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma in Rome (2013) and Whitechapel Gallery in London (2014). He has participated in many Arte povera exhibitions and has been invited on several occasions to the Documenta in Kassel (1972, 1977, 1982, 1992) as well as to the Venice Biennale (1970, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2013). Since 1969 he has also designed sets and costumes for the theatre, notably projects devised with Carlo Quartucci in the eighties and the recent sets for two Wagner operas directed by Federico Tiezzi. Having trained as a graphic designer, he has always nurtured special interest in the field of publishing and writing. From the outset his artistic exploration has been accompanied by his thoughts, collected in books he has personally edited: from Idem, published in 1975 by Einaudi with an introduction by Italo Calvino, to his most recent publications, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Einaudi, Turin 2006), Dall’Atlante al Vuoto in ordine alfabetico (Electa, Milan 2010) and L’autore che credeva di esistere (Johan & Levi, Milan 2012). Many books have been published devoted to Paolini’s oeuvre: from the first monograph written by Germano Celant (Sonnabend Press, New York 1972) to the volume by Francesco Poli (Lindau, Turin 1990) and, lastly, the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist’s works dated from 1960 to 1999, edited by Maddalena Disch (Skira Editore, Milan 2008).

For further information, please see the artist’s website: www.fondazionepaolini.it