Paolo Gioli's Philosophical Optics: A Retrospective on the Artist's Materialist Vision
A philosophical reading of Paolo Gioli's work, published in Artribune, explores the artist's lifelong investigation into the materiality of vision. Gioli (1942–2022) employed analog media—painting, drawing, photography, film—to recover a primordial gaze. The text connects his practice to 19th-century physiological optics (Goethe, Helmholtz) and to literary parallels (Hesse's Siddhartha, Fiedler's aesthetics). Gioli's film "Film stenopeico ‒ L’uomo senza la macchina da presa" (1973-1981-1989) inverts Vertov's "Man with a Movie Camera" by making the spectator's perception the excluded protagonist. His work, including polaroids and pinhole cameras, aims to reveal the "eternal now" of perception. The article, originally published in the catalog "Paolo Gioli. Analogica/antologica" (Silvana Editoriale, 2020), accompanies exhibitions at Museo Castromediano (Lecce), Palazzo Tupputi (Bisceglie), and Three Shadows Photography Art Center (Beijing).
Key facts
- Paolo Gioli was born in Sarzano di Rovigo in 1942 and died in Lendinara in 2022.
- Gioli's work spans painting, drawing, photography, and film.
- His film 'Film stenopeico ‒ L’uomo senza la macchina da presa' was made between 1973, 1981, and 1989.
- The article references Hermann Hesse's 'Siddhartha' (1922) and Konrad Fiedler's 1876 essay.
- Gioli's practice is linked to physiological optics by Goethe and Helmholtz.
- The text was published in the catalog 'Paolo Gioli. Analogica/antologica' edited by Bruno Di Marino.
- Exhibitions were held at Museo Castromediano (Lecce), Palazzo Tupputi (Bisceglie), and Three Shadows Photography Art Center (Beijing).
- Gioli created 'Rouge de Land' (2014) recreating Edwin Land's color experiment.
Entities
Artists
- Paolo Gioli
- Hermann Hesse
- Konrad Fiedler
- Paul Cézanne
- Emile Bernard
- Wolfgang Goethe
- Hermann von Helmholtz
- Marcel Duchamp
- Edwin Land
- Dziga Vertov
- Bruno Di Marino
- Paul Virilio
- Plotinus
- Georges Seurat
- Hyppolite Bayard
- Julia Cameron
- Georges Méliès
- Man Ray
- Paul Valéry
- Egard Varése
- Martin Heidegger
- Roberta Valtorta
- Marco Senaldi
Institutions
- Artribune
- Adelphi
- Aesthetica
- Piper
- MIT Press
- Electa
- Silvana Editoriale
- Museo Castromediano
- Palazzo Tupputi
- Three Shadows Photography Art Center
- Rarovideo
- Università di Milano Bicocca
- IULM di Milano
- FMAV di Modena
- Accademia di Brera
- LABA Libera Accademia di
Locations
- Sarzano di Rovigo
- Rovigo
- Lendinara
- Lecce
- Bisceglie
- Beijing
- Milan
- Palermo
- Munich
- Paris
- Leipzig