Paola Gandolfi's Feminist Painting Confronts Gender and Time

Paola Gandolfi (Rome, 1949) discusses her solo exhibition at Galleria Alessandro Bagnai in Florence, centered on her latest project "Reportage" — nine large paintings laid on the floor that for the first time introduce a male figure into her work. Over forty years, Gandolfi has exclusively depicted women to explore the female psyche and break stereotypes. Her paintings use vibrant, Lynch-inspired colors to lure viewers before revealing unsettling details: in "Paco Paco," a woman in a Paco Rabanne metal dress shows a furious gaze and Kung Fu stance, addressing repressed female aggression. Gandolfi's video "In tempo per modifiche temporali" (2016) manipulates time by revisiting her six-year-old self, while "Chiamata urbana urgente" (2022) confronts her ten-year-old self. She cites feminist thinkers Carla Lonzi, Luce Irigaray, Genevieve Fraisse, and Rosi Braidotti as influences, and credits her time with Monique Knowlton Gallery in New York (1995–2000) for connecting her to American feminist art movements. The exhibition "Reportage," conceived in 1995 as a photographic project, depicts a pathological encounter between a man and a woman, evolving from dance to violence, amid the ongoing femicide crisis in Italy. Gandolfi's practice balances painting and video, with painting requiring slower engagement while video delivers immediate impact. She notes that female viewers intuitively grasp her work's preverbal psychic territory.