Giulio Paolini's Fourth Solo Show at Galleria Alfonso Artiaco Explores Beauty

Giulio Paolini, born in Genoa in 1940 and living in Turin, returns to Galleria Alfonso Artiaco in Naples for his fourth solo exhibition, following successes in 2005, 2009, and 2014. The show investigates beauty in relation to art, drawing inspiration from Greek mythological figures such as Narcissus, Hermaphroditus, Venus, and Danae, as well as the iconography of Saint Sebastian and medieval literature like Lohengrin. Paolini believes beauty renders art eternal and unique, and he reinterprets these figures through his own genius. Each room features a large work framed by unpublished studies. The exhibition is titled "Rinascita di Venere" (Rebirth of Venus), which is also the name of the opening piece: a plexiglass installation with a base from which a shell emerges, referencing the birth of Venus. A suspended glass plate frames a small white canvas marked by two diagonals, whose intersection defines the epicenter. The transparency of the installation makes beauty the true protagonist. Other works include "Danae che riceve la pioggia d'oro," depicting the Greek myth where Jupiter visits Danae as golden rain, represented by an overturned transparent chalice on a ceramic female figurine atop a white and gold collage. Paolini's international art revolves around the theme of beauty, which he sees as an inexhaustible source for reading art's infinite nuances.