Research Concept
It is commonly assumed that art in Italy is uncompromisingly subservient to aesthetics—to beauty. It is difficult to imagine the works of Italian artists that step outside the boundaries of the harmonious, proportional, and especially the material.
In this context, one might expect that conceptualism is impossible in Italian art because conceptualism requires a rejection of aesthetics as such—and therefore the abandonment of artistic tradition: the classical approach to creation, the materiality of objects, and the focus on the work’s form.
Nevertheless, by examining the work of Giulio Paolini, Lucio Fontana, Pino Pascali, and other Italian artists, we observe a distinct conceptualist approach to art. How is this possible?
While a new paradigm was forming in the 20th century in other countries—one that declared matter secondary and idea or concept primary—the Italians who adopted this trend could not fully abandon tradition or the canons of the classical school.
For example, Paolini, while employing techniques of conceptual art, often selects classical sculptural and graphic elements as material for his works. Through this, the artist presents the works of the new era as containers that hold all the creations of the past and the future. This significantly differs from the principles of conceptualism embraced by artists in other countries, such as America—where conceptualism liberates the author from craftsmanship, serving as a pure act of abstract thought without regard for history.
Italian conceptual art finds the necessary means for conceptual expression within the canons of painting and sculpture, evolving toward conceptualism because it does not reject the accumulated experience preceding it—it does not burn bridges with the classical paradigm.
Engaging with the stage of new art—conceptual art—the Italians utilize props accumulated over centuries by preceding generations. Paolini and his contemporaries, conceptual artists in Italy, frequently work with classical busts, arrange their works on a strict perspective grid, and when exhibiting, incorporate the spaces of historical museums, featuring their authentic vaults, ceiling paintings, and niches, referencing famous works from the Renaissance and Neoclassicism periods.
The research is divided into three sections. The first contains a comparative analysis of Italian conceptualism against canonical works of global conceptualism. The second and third sections demonstrate how Italian conceptualists specifically utilize classical elements in their works. These elements are separated into two major groups: pictorial and sculptural.
For this study, images of Italian conceptual artworks have been selected. The key representative of Conceptualism in Italy chosen is Giulio Paolini—an artist, sculptor, and notable participant in the Arte Povera movement. The core body of research is dedicated to his work.
In addition to Paolini’s extensive collection of pieces, works by Lucio Fontana, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gianni Cunnelis, and several other authors have been included, whose practices only support the research hypothesis.
Conceptual Art Techniques in the Works of Italian and Non-Italian Artists
To confirm the uniqueness of the Italian approach to conceptual art, which incorporates the canons of antiquity and classicism, we will compare several works by Italian and non-Italian conceptual artists—the pioneers of the movement in America and the USSR.
The common criteria chosen for selecting and comparing works from different countries are the core techniques of conceptual art: the use of text as an artistic medium, reduction, and contextual play.
Left: Joseph Kosuth, «Art as Idea as Idea, ” 1968 / Right: Vincenzo Anetti, „Portrait of the Artist, ” 1971
In both works—one created in the United States and the other in Italy, separated by just three years—the authors employ text as an artistic medium. Both pieces exhibit a conceptualist approach, wherein the idea takes precedence. Yet, the form and content of the works are equally compelling.
The piece from Kosuth’s series, «Art as Idea,» appears outwardly simple and almost unappealing; it is a photocopied definition of the word «art.» Its primary mission is to convey the concept.
On the other hand, Anetti’s work strives within the same conceptual sphere but seems to inadvertently carry the baggage of the classical paradigm. The wide spacing between letters and the composition of the entire sheet evoke the Trajan’s Column more than anything detached from classical notions of beauty.
Column base on the Forum of Trajan in Rome, Apollodorus of Damascus, 113
The text of the work is also important. In the piece «Portrait of an Artist, ” Anetti states: „I am an aesthete, I am a mythologist, I am an enlightened person, I am one who will go further.“ Operating as a conceptual artist, the author simultaneously admits in the very first line that aesthetics is extremely important to him.
Left: Kasimir Malevich, «Black Suprematist Square, ” 1915 / Right: Giulio Paolini, „Geometric Drawing“ (Disegno Geometrico), 1960
Malevich gave the reduction technique to art through Conceptualism. We will compare his work with a piece by the Italian Giulio Paolini, who utilizes the same technique in his work, «Geometric Drawing.»
Paolini, unlike his evident inspiration, approaches the search for new art quite differently. He uses simplification as his primary tool—he does not strive to block out or «paint over» what came before. Instead, he leaves only what he deems essential on the canvas and the perspective grid, thereby creating a new form and opening a wide window for a new paradigm. With this piece, the author seems to be saying: «The canvas is ready. Let’s start something new!»
Once again, Conceptualism is present, and once again, there is a return to tradition. For Paolini, the «zero form» is the stripped-down foundation of the classical art school, but no less significant.
Left: Joseph Kosuth, «One and Three Rakes, ” 1965 / Right: Michelangelo Pistoletto, „Venere degli Stracci, ” 1967
Kosuth’s seminal series of works, beginning with «One and Three Chairs, ” raises questions about the contexts of art versus the contexts within art.
Michelangelo Pistoletto employs the same device—the play of context—two years later in „Venus in a Bath of Rubbish.“ He places the antique plaster sculpture of the Venus de Milo, turned away from the viewer, before a mountain of colorful, crumpled rags, thereby carving out a new interpretation of the sculpture from its original context.
It is characteristic that the Italian artist, much like Anetti and Paolini, utilizes classical sculptural forms. In the following sections, we will examine what other traditional objects have become frequent tools in the works of Italian conceptualists.
Canvas, perspective, paint
Giulio Paolini, «Two Figures in Search of the Author, ” 1996
A perspectival room, drawn directly onto the wall, is surrounded by two trapezoidal canvases that mimic paintings hung on the side walls of the depicted room. A third central canvas resembles a painting on the far wall. Inside, there is a pencil sketch: two figures standing opposite each other, each looking at the painting before them. A large, tilted frame, whose canvas is wrapped around the top edge and fitted with six installed spotlights, functions like a «curtain» raised on a stage.
The title, inspired by Luigi Pirandello’s renowned comedy Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), alludes to the doubling of the author figure and the painting—which, paradoxically, remain two unknowns.
Paolini employs reduction as an artistic technique in this work—simplifying the depicted mise-en-scène to its bare minimum.
Clean canvases and the manipulation of frames—highly classic attributes of artistic practice—are reduced here, and we will see this in many of his other works. And not just his.
Julio Paolini, «Dilemma,» 2005
Giulio Paolini, «The Unknown Masterpiece» (Le Chef-d’œuvre Inconnu), 2020
Julio Paolini, «Due per Uno, ” 1993–94
Julio Paolini, «Nobody’s Land» (Una Terra di Nessuno), 2014
Giulio Paolini, «Out of Frame, ” 2021
Julio Paolini, «Out of Frame, ” 2021
Julio Paolini, «Normal Life» (Una Vita Normale), 2007
Giulio Paolini, «La Doublure, ” 1972–73
Perspective is a recurring element in the works of Italian conceptualists, particularly Paolini. It is also a traditional element, fundamental to the works of the Renaissance and Classicism.
