- Address: Palazzo Sforza Cesarini, via Sforza Cesarini 43a, 00186 Roma
- Owner/Director: Paola Capata
Paola Capata (P): I did not own Monitor’s space in Rome. We rented it already in 2009 and it is a beautiful spot in a fantastic ancient building really close to Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori.
When I first visited the space it was an abandoned storage. As far as I know, it has been in the centuries as a stable first and afterwards a chapel.
We did not change it so much. We actually left it almost the same as we found it with this amazing 6 meters high dome ceilings and really stick walls. When you come in, you can still see a piece of marble nestled in the walls that used to be an ancient stoup.
P: I was working at my phd at the University at that time of my life and I had the opportunity to travel a lot and visit many places. I realized that I did not want to work in a University or be a curator. I just realized that I wanted to have a gallery and I was 27.
P: I do not know if my gallery can be considered as a successful one. I for sure know that in the past 13 years we launched good artists and some of them are still working with us. We promoted Italian art around the world through art fairs and many others collaborations and we are still working on it. For example at the Dallas Art Fair we presented some major historical works by Claudio Verna (1937-) who is well-known in Italy but not so much in USA. Our goal is to promote his work abroad as much as we can.
P: Rome is a gorgeous town that doesn’t need anything but itself. Having a gallery there is like having a gallery in a paradise which is ancient like the Parthenon, chaotic like Bombay and stunning like NYC. It’s not the perfect place for contemporary art but in the past 10 years the contemporary art system is growing. It is good to work in a place like this. If you do something good, be sure people will notice it.
P: Well. We show solid stuff. Not trendy, not so much commercial – well sometimes, yes, of course – but definitely something that will stay longer. I think this is the message we want to deliver.
P: Ok, let’s get rhetoric: be yourself, steal but not copy and if you can, do not follow any trend unless you really like it.
P: I show all Monitor artists in the same way. But it is definitely true saying that we are working on Claudio Verna a lot this year.
P: Galleries are just about market.
Artists are just about creation.
P: The next one.
P: Well the other day a collector told me that art makes you bleed. I told him that this is nice but better if you do not have hemorrhage.
P: Well. Monitor is founder of this really small but nice art fair: www.granpalazzo.org and we are at our second edition. I like to do networking but I also like to be out of the star system. So less chat, more facts. Everything is taken really seriously by my side. I think a gallery should reinvent itself doing different things at the same time. We do.
P: Well, hard to say. Everything seems to be different now to me. I always give myself quite a long time before asking an artist to join Monitor while before I guess I was faster. Of course the roster of the artists at the gallery is pretty big and this is one of the reasons.
I think a gallery nowadays should reinvent itself constantly. In the beginning of 2000, Monitor was quite known for showing mainly filmmakers and video artists. Now, we are launching a good number of figurative painters from the young generation.
We always try to make people think about changes and new vibes and I think this always pay back.
Art by Peter Linde Busk
Paola Capata
Art by Nicola Samorì