Paola Gandolfi and Daniel Kruger: Portraits and Jewelry in Dialogue in Arezzo

The exhibition in Arezzo pairs the intense, psychologically charged portraits of Paola Gandolfi with the symbolic jewelry sculptures of Daniel Kruger. Gandolfi, active since the 1970s, depicts women without accessories, emphasizing their direct, unadorned femininity. Kruger's amulet-like pieces, displayed on inclined panels beside the portraits, draw from ancient and contemporary folklore but resist fixed mystical meanings, inviting personal interpretation. Curator Marco Bazzini notes that the show dissolves the traditional bond between portrait and jewelry, granting each autonomy. Kruger uses materials like amber, malachite, quartz, and coral for their purported magical properties. The dialogue between the natural realism of the portraits and the mystical symbolism of the jewelry creates a space where viewers oscillate between immediate truth and symbolic association.