Emiliano Ponzi's Shanghai Exhibition Celebrates Chinese Culture

Italian illustrator and visual artist Emiliano Ponzi (b. 1978) opened his first solo exhibition in Shanghai in 2023 at Sun Ke Villa, a historic building renovated and reopened to the public in 2020. The venue, part of the Columbia Circle complex—once the heart of the American community in the city—hosts the largest collection of Ponzi's works ever assembled in a single space. Titled "The Dreamer. Stories from another world," the show features over sixty works, including three new pieces and site-specific installations inspired by the Year of the Rabbit, which had just begun in China. The exhibition design integrates Ponzi's artworks with the villa's architectural elements, emphasizing a delicate balance between real and artificial beauty. Ponzi's style uses satire and humor to explore universal human traits and life's complexities. Among the new works is "My precious pillow," a fiberglass sculpture depicting a young girl—a common sight on Shanghai streets—resting on a large rabbit, symbolizing the fusion of modern China with its deep-rooted traditions. Ponzi, whose work appears in publications and campaigns for Apple, Le Monde, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Louis Vuitton, and MoMA, selected the 60 images from over 600 artworks created in recent years, after extensive study of Chinese cultural motifs.