Rossi Martino, the commercial partnership of Fabio Rossi and Giovanni Martino established to promote European art in Asia, proudly announces The Eye of the Storm, an exhibition of recent work by Italian artist Vanni Cuoghi (b. 1966). The presentation focuses on his series titled Monolocali (2015–ongoing), in which dioramas reconstruct settings on a reduced scale, thus confining his cut-out paper characters to a specific time and space, similar to that of a theatre production. This semi-autobiographical exhibition, featuring his 2019 Typhoon works, which are part of the series, acts as Cuoghi’s whimsical response to the devastation he witnessed in Hong Kong, when Typhoon Hato struck during a visit in 2017.



The exhibition’s title, The Eye of the Storm, not only refers to Typhoon Hato, but also alludes to the format of Cuoghi’s art practice, which can be traced back to his time as a theatre set designer. The artist focuses the viewer’s gaze into each individual scene, whilst his own characters stare back at them with their eyes closed, in an apparent attempt to extend their influence beyond the frame and interact directly with the audience. Within each detailed diorama, one can easily imagine oneself as the omniscient narrator of the artist’s stories. Or perhaps, for Cuoghi’s paper characters, it is the viewer’s gaze that reflects the imminent storm.