GIULIO PAOLINI – TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Posted on 2014-07-08

Italian artist Giulio Paolini immerses us in elegant installations of canvases, windows, fragments of statuary and checkerboards – sometimes presented by 18th century footmen. Believing that every work of art embodies earlier traditions, Paolini pays tribute to artists such as Chardin, Lotto and Velazquez. His own face, hands and eyes reappear throughout the show, as he asks Hamlet’s question of the artist.
From To Be or Not to Be (1994–95) where canvases radiate across the floor into infinity to the existential drama of The Author Who Thought He Existed… (2013), Paolini takes us on an exhilarating journey through five decades of work exploring perception and creativity.

Exhibition runs through to September 14th, 2014

Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High St
London
E1 7QX

www.whitechapelgallery.org