The work of De Chirico and Paolini at New York

Giorgio de Chirico and Giulio Paolini, two Italian artists, are together for the first time at an exhibition in New York at Center of Italian Modern Art (CIMA), until June 24. The title of the exhibition is Giorgio de Chirico – Giulio Paolini / Giulio Paolini – Giorgio de Chirico, a title chiasmus, which creates an imaginary cross between two great names of Italian art.

The exhibition aims to highlight the links between the two artists, born in different centuries, but characterized by deep affinities: the first founder of metaphysical painting and the other the creator of a conceptual art. De Chirico was able, with his metaphysical painting, to lay the foundations of Surrealism and this art became the representation of the unconscious life of the artist, made of mystery and loneliness.

Paolini expressed his admiration for De Chirico, hailing him as an “illustrious model” and incorporating numerous references to the artist in his own photographs and drawings throughout the course of his career. The search for Paolini, due to conceptual art, is always characterized by reflection on the complex relations between works of art and the viewer: these two entities work together to the realization of artistic structure.

The exhibition includes works by important metaphysical de Chirico and works by Paolini dated between 1966 and 2016, including a new series of collages made especially for the occasion.

-Francesca Procopio