GALERA SAN SODA — Maria Sole – Giubileo

GALERA SAN SODA

Giubileo Maria SolecuratedвуRagazzii di stradaGalera san Sodapress preview 15 May h. 12:00Please rsvp here info@galerasansoda.com Artist, performer, chanteuse, actress, writer, and self-proclaimed Popess, as well as muse to Renato Guttuso and Remo Brindisi, Maria Sole (Genoa, 1937) is a fragment of Italian avant-garde, a pivotal icon awaiting rediscovery in the realms of art, culture, and fashion.The works of Maria Sole, simultaneously punk and rich in theatricality, are at constant play between iconoclasm, Dadaism, and social and feministthemes. Her voice anticipated discourses that remain powerfully relevant today: the role of women in Italian society, sexual liberation, and the intersection of art and the body. The titles of her compositions speak volumes: The Crucified is Dancing Rock ’n’ Roll, Sono io Alain Delon (I am Alain Delon), Pelo potere (Hair power).“I insist on the concept of the Popess because Ibelieve that a woman born of a woman has thesame right as a man to hold the papacy — or, if notthe papacy itself, at least to inhabit it in the mindsof the people. Popes are sometimes pawns of theChurch; a Popess, on the other hand, would neveraccept such servitude.” Alongside her extensive self-production of stage costumes, music, and art books—now objects of cult status and avid collection—a new and vital chapter is unveiled: a cycle of previously unseen paintings made from the 1970s to present days. Giubileo presents, for the very first time, Maria Sole’s paintings, in a carefully curated selection that captures her multifaceted poetics. Provocative, ethereal, and ghostly elements coexist on canvas, distilling the spirit of an artist whose self-portraits as Popess stand alongside faces, floral motifs, and abstract visions. The viewer is immersed in brushstrokes that evoke a candied, seemingly naïve world—behind which lurk glimpses of unsettling darkness, much like in her songs. In the year of the Church’s Jubilee and the election of a new pontiff, Maria Sole’s Giubileo offers a situationist counterpoint to the papal throne: it is the artist’s own act of absolution, offered to her audience. Maria Sole, Giubileo runs from 16 to 25 May 2025at Galera San Soda, Corso Sempione 33, 20145Milan. Press preview: Thursday 15 May at 12:00Opening: from 18:00. For more information andAppointments: info@galerasansoda.comDM @galera_sansoda Maria SoleMaria Sole (Genoa, 1937) is the Popess—one of the most enigmatic figures in Italian popular culture. Her career began in Liguria in the 1960s as a model for photo-romance magazines and beauty pageants. In the early 1970s, she moved to Milan, where she met Armando Stula, her lifelong artistic partner. Together, they staged their first theatrical performances (The Bible, Trial of Hitler and Eva Braun, Bitter Rice) and recorded her first albums. The musical output recordings intensified between the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, accompanied by a series of publications featuring Maria Sole alongside the celebrities of the time, dressed in extraordinary costumes and addressing audiences with thoughts and poetry. All of this was produced with a DIY ethos and a distinctly Situationist flair. At the heart of her artistic language lies a recurring focus on religion and the figure of the Popess—never crudely blasphemous, but always irreverent and surreal. Her work also explores contemporary feminist themes, laced with humour and provocation. One of her career’s most audacious moments was the idea to hang all over the walls of Milan fake posters claiming the support of then Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi, which gained her publicity and hundreds of invitations to perform in Italian Socialist Party (PSI) clubs across Italy.“One day I told Bettino Craxi I’d made somepromotional posters with him, Armando Stula andmyself on them. A few days later he called and asked,‘What have you done? I saw the whole city [Milan]covered with our faces. How many did you put up?’ Itold him, ‘About a thousand’—but in truth, it wastwenty thousand! And because they showed Craxi, allthe Socialists invited us to perform.” Ragazzi di StradaRagazzi di Strada is an archive dedicated to the studof subcultures in Italy. Its work combines archivalresearch with curatorial, editorial, and artistic practices,with the aim of uncovering lost stories and trajectorieswithin Italian youth culture.Former exhibitions curated by Ragazzi di Stradainclude Liscio Got Me Hardcore (Galera San Soda,Milan, 2023); Perchè perchè la domenica mi lascisempre sola per andare a vedere la partita dell’Unione(Ca’Buccari, Venice, 2024); Ragazzi di Stadio byRagazzi di Strada (Commerce, Milan, 2025). Editorialworks include Garage Youth (2020); Liscio Got MeHardcore (2020, 2023); Pino Pascali – Roma 1968(2021); Dark Youth (2021). Orrore a 33 GiriPassionate, irreverent and provocative: Orrore a 33 Giriis an alternative to the mundane and mediocre.Founded in 2006 by Vittorio “Vikk” Papa, it is anautonomous and independent space dedicated totracing (and retracing) alternative paths for listeners,offering insights, rediscovering forgotten records andfigures from the past, all while staying attuned to thepresent. Orrore a 33 Giri was the first platform to revivethe forgotten legacy of Maria Sole. It was namedamong the top 10 Italian music websites at theMacchianera Internet Awards in 2012, 2015, 2016,2017, 2018, and 2019. TalentoTalento is a record label devoted to oblique music,founded in 2020 by Auroro Borealo and Luca di Cataldo(Viaggi Andromeda). It has released over 100 recordsby more than 25 artists, including Auroro Borealo,Crema, Danielle, Duo Bucolico, and Martelli. In 2021,Talento digitally reissued the complete discography ofMaria Sole, and in 2023 it produced and released hernew album, PAPEXY. Galera San SodaGalera San Soda Reopens its programme spearheaded by Victoria Genzini & Steno BrancaA project/exhibition space consisting of three large shopfront windows overlooking the salmon-pink and bluetiled atrium of the INA Building, designed in 1957 byvisionary rationalist architect Piero Bottoni, in the midstof Italy’s post-war economic boom.The gallery’s name comes from the Italian word galera,meaning prison or jail, which in turn derives from thehistoric Genoese “Galea” or Venetian “Garea”—arowing vessel used throughout the Mediterranean fromancient Greek times until the 19th century. The rowerspowering these ships were typically convicts, making them prisoners and sailors at once.made with Lay Theme