Galleria (2) [Gallery (2)]

The cardboard concertina-folded lithograph, recalling a theatrical setting, is a mise-en-scène of the art dealers who have accompanied Paolini during his professional career. From left to right we can see Gerd de Vries along with the artist and Paul Maenz (during the installation of the solo show at the Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne, 1989); Ippolito Simonis (in a portrait from 1983), Yvon Lambert (in a photograph from 1976); Christian Stein and Gianfranco Benedetti (in a snapshot taken in 1986), and, lastly, Luciano Pistoi together with Paolini (in a photograph from 1973). The gallery of portraits is articulated by a regular sequence of squares, some of which cut out, others outlined in pencil. In the first and the last plate the visual angles traced in red pencil contain the sequence of images in the artist’s gaze. The title refers to both the place where the protagonists belong, the art gallery, and the idea of the sequence of portraits of figures from the same time and profession.