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Paladino alternates in his oeuvre works densely peopled with figures, signs and objects with others presenting great semi-bare spaces, among which we could include Mozart¿s Tongue. The scarce elements shaping this scene --two heads, one of them next to a hand in the act of blessing, two snakes, two crosses in relief, a big goat head, one x-shaped cross, and the rhythmic curves of the background, apparently describing a disturbing vegetation-- convey a secret ritual poetry marked by its own strangeness, stylisation, and hieratic qualities. Paladino's free associations unfold in the realm of myths and the sacred --at least, the objects that inhabit his scenes operate as ceremonial elements and many of his characters adopt ceremonial attitudes--, although his iconography is characterised by visions that are subjective and yet present a host of cultural references. Thus, allusions to our Graeco-Latin, mediaeval and quattrocentist heritage and even to primitive African culture imbue the representations with a magical and thanatotic spirit, embodied in masks, spectres, skulls and crosses. Paladino's work would be inconceivable without the late painting by De Chirico and Carrá, the influence of Roman art in Campigli's works, and the stylisation of the sculpture by Marini and Melotti.

Mozart's Tongue was included in a group show held in 1985 in Salzburg in which a number of important artists paid tribute to the talented composer from Salzburg. [J.V.]

Selected bibliography

• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 206.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 206.
• Castañer López, Xesqui. "El coleccionismo público en el País Vasco, 1980-1996 : los museos de bellas artes", Goya : revista de arte, n° 68. p. 47.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 204-205.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 204-205.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 204-205.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 206, n° cat. 147.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 206, n° cat. 147.
• Bilboko Museoaren alfabetoa = El alfabeto del Museo de Bilbao = The alphabet of the Bilbao Museum = L'alphabet du Musée de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 369-371, 373-374, 377, n° cat. 202.
• Viar, Javier. Hijos de la angustia. Bilbao, Muelle de Uribitarte, 2019. pp. 256, 325, il.