Paola Gandolfi's 'Contrattempo' at Auditorium Parco della Musica

Paola Gandolfi (Rome, 1949) presents 'Contrattempo,' an exhibition of 14 large-scale paintings, many previously unseen, at the Foyer Sinopoli of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in Rome, running until March 2, 2025. Curated by Claudio Libero Pisano, the show is part of the Fondazione Musica per Roma's ongoing 'The Female Gaze' project, which since 2017 has highlighted female artists across generations, including Elisabetta Montessori and Donatella Spaziani. Gandolfi's work, developed over four decades, centers on the female figure, depicted as imposing, colorful, and pop-inflected, with surrealist touches. Her women are non-violent but assertive, conveying a subtle discomfort with their subordinate gender role. The exhibition title references French philosopher Geneviève Fraisse's concept of feminism as a 'contretemps'—a rhythmic disruption in history's unison. Gandolfi, drawing on her deep knowledge of psychoanalysis and gender studies, uses simple gestures and gazes to express a visceral reflection on femininity and its contradictions, reclaiming space without aggression.