21/9/2007
Paolo Gioli
offiCina, Beijing
Thirty 50X60 polaroids and five films
Thirty 50X60 polaroids and five films
This is the first solo exhibition in China of the distinguished Italian experimental photographer and filmmaker Paolo Gioli.
Originally a painter, Paolo Gioli, 65, an Italian who was educated in Venice, in 1967 set off for New York where he discovered the New American Cinema and became acquainted with the New York School of painting. In 1970 he moved to Rome where he produced his first films. Following in the footsteps of the Lumière Brothers, he developed and printed the films himself using only a motion picture camera for his entire laboratory. During his stay in Rome he became deeply interested in photography, thoroughly investigating its origins. In 1976, he moved to Milan where, in addition to filmmaking, he devoted his time to photography and in 1977 became the first to practice Polaroid transfer. He currently lives and works in Lendinara, Italy.
The light sensitive material comes before everything else, states Gioli. The material is the polaroid stock that can be torn away from its negative like a fresco. By treating it over the years, Gioli discovers unsuspected ties with the fathers of photography. There is no creative connection so impressive as that between Land and Nièpce, he writes: photo engraving by pressure, and the Polaroid is impression by engraving par excellence. Also like Nièpce, Paolo Gioli pays attention to the support onto which the polaroid will be deposited. Drawing paper, silk, wood and plastic are for him like stone, pewter, copper, and glass were for Nièpce. So Gioli pours chemicals onto surfaces other than film such as paper or canvas thus bringing photography closer to the realm of the fine arts. The iconography, classic by western standard, presents variations depending on the support on which the image is laid and to the process (always innovative in Gioli) of gathering the light. A concern, that of Gioli, while attempting to fix the subjects, to fix also the process of their becoming images.
A portion of the pinhole works on paper presented here come from the series ‘Corps et Thorax’ shown at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou in Paris in 1983. The remaining portion of the exhibition is made of recent works on polaroid 50x60 cm which are exhibited here for the first time.
Paolo Gioli’s works have been exhibited in Museums such as Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon sur Sa?ne), Musée Marey (Beaune), Musée Réattu (Arles) Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou (Paris), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome), Museo di Roma (Rome), Fratelli Alinari Photography History Museum (Florence), Palazzo Fortuny (Venice) etc, and included in international collections of photography such as MoMA (New York), Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago), The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou (Paris) etc.
This solo exhibition is promoted by offiCina with the funding of the Cultural Office of the Italian Embassy. It is associated to DIAF® 2007 (Beijing ‘Dangdai International Art Festival’ ®) and Art Beijing.
The exhibition consists of a selection of approximately 30 works on Polaroid 50x60 cm (ranging from the early ‘80s to today) and a selection of his experimental films that were presented at the latest edition of the HKIFF where Gioli was artist on focus of the Avant-Garde section. The same films were screened at The Tenth Annual Views from the Avant-Garde A Special Presentation of the 44th New York Film Festival in 2006.
Prior to the exhibition opening, we will organize a lecture illustrating Paolo Gioli’s personal research and his unprecedented contribution to the history of photography and filmmaking.
The exhibition catalogue (in English and Chinese) is available at offiCina.
opening reception: Sat 22 September 2007, 17:00-24:00 (kindly offered by Gustomenta)
2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Factory 798, Chaoyang District
Lecture on Paolo Gioli: Beijing, Italian Embassy Cultural Office, Tue 18 September, 19:00
2 Sanlitun Dong Er Jie, Chaoyang District, 65322187
offiCina
2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Factory 798, Chaoyang District Beijing
Tue-Sun, 10:30-19:00