Vanni Cuoghi's Night Walks Become Paintings at Galleria Benappi

Vanni Cuoghi (born 1966 in Genoa, based in Milan) presents 'La messa in scena della pittura' at Galleria Benappi in San Sicario, Val di Susa, at 2,700 meters altitude. The exhibition, curated by Umberto Benappi, features ten oil paintings and three plant-shaped wooden cutouts created between 2019 and 2024. Cuoghi's inspiration comes from nocturnal walks in his Milan neighborhood, where he photographs piles of bulky waste left for AMSA collection. He then cuts out images from magazines—including many mountain silhouettes—and assembles them into small theatrical tableaux on his desk, using a computer screen as backdrop and a desk lamp as moon. These portable 'presepi' are translated into oil on canvas, depicting miniature worlds with rocks, trees, red curtains, shower tiles, horseshoe magnets, wine crates, and human figures added for scale. Cuoghi, who studied scenography at Accademia di Brera (diploma 1989 under Giovanni Maria Accame), reverses Boccioni's notion of street life invading homes: he brings the street inside. The pandemic lockdown intensified his practice, as confinement made him crave landscapes. The resulting paintings evoke a metaphysical atmosphere but are grounded in the Anthropocene's accumulation of consumer goods, treated with ironic detachment. Cuoghi now spends time in a small village under the Gran Combin massif in Val d'Aosta, and accepted Benappi's invitation to reopen the high-altitude gallery.