A late-nineteenth-century Venetian wooden chest of drawers, an early twentieth-century mirror, two nineteenth-century French bronze figurines, and an English porcelain plate make up a dresser in which different styles, eras and origins dialogue to create a plastic unicum. Rather than the reflected image, in the centre of the mirror is the word ‘Disegno’ (Drawing) (inv. 3363). Suspended between ‘the opacity of the thing and the encrypted transparency of the sign’,1 this serves to short-circuit the theme of representation. Comò-disegno was part of the ‘Interno’ exhibition at Anna D’Ascanio gallery in Rome. It was later shown at the Galleria Carini in Florence in a different composition, entitled Trasloco-disegno, in which the mirror, a figurine and some disassembled drawers were placed on the floor as if just unloaded or about to be taken away.

1. A. Boatto, Casa d’artista, in Fabio Mauri. Interno / Esterno, catalogue of the exhibition (Rome, Galleria Anna D'Ascanio and Florence, Galleria Carini), edited by Lara-Vinca Masini, Alberto Boatto, Rome / Florence, 1990, p. 8.