Zago And Your Friends

The “Zago and your Friends” Charity Art Exhibition will open on Monday, 21st of November, at the Dugdale Centre in Enfield. This is an initiative by EMERGENCY UK, a registered charity in England and Wales that provides free and high quality medical and surgical assistance to civilian victims of war and poverty.
The exhibition will feature 100 paintings that are the result of a joint effort between 100 international artists and an Italian contemporary artist, Gianantonio Marino Zago. The artworks have been donated by the artists to EMERGENCY UK and will be on sale at a price of £350 each. The entire proceeds will fund the Bangui Paediatric Centre (Central African Republic), where highly qualified staff provide assistance to children up to 14 years of age and screen patients of every age affected by heart conditions before they undergo heart surgery in the nearby Karthoum Cardiac Centre.

The “Zago and Your Friends” art exhibition will be officially launched on Saturday, 26th November, at 6:30pm. During the opening night, attendees will have a unique opportunity to view the entire collection displayed in one venue and meet Zago who will be joined by some of the artists who took part in the initiative, including Milina Milis, Jole Serreli, Nunzio Zurzolo, Donata Tortella and Tommaso Pensa. The participants will talk about their arts and their experience as well as answer questions from the audience. The art talk will be facilitated by Stefano Lance and will be followed by a live music performance and some amazing raffle prizes will be drawn. This will be the first of a number of free events that will take place throughout the entire duration of the exhibition.

Other events hosted in Enfield will be on :
Saturday, 3 December;
Saturday, 10 December; and
Saturday, 17 December,
before the exhibition moves to Barking.

The “Zago and Your Friends” art exhibition was conceived by Gianantonio Marino Zago as something “original and never done before anywhere else in the world”. It was an experiment that confronted him with a number of “artistic crises” but that is now finally going to materialise. For the first time ever, 100 international artists, all characterised by different styles and approaches, agreed to create one painting each that would later be completed by Zago by adding his unique, personal touch. The Italian artist’s distinguishing artistic feature lies in the fact that he uses recycled waste to make artistic statements. The material that he used to complete the 100 paintings was in fact retrieved from the public waste in Verona, where he lives and works. This English experience is expected to make the international reputation of the Italian artist – whose artwork has also been exhibited in New York, Japan and Germany – grow even bigger. “Whoever buys these paintings, will make a very good investment for the future while helping disadvantaged people”, Zago said.

The paintings will be displayed for several months between 2011 and 2012 in art galleries around London. Most of these galleries were offered free of charge by the local Councils.

The exhibition at the Dugdale Centre will be open to the public from Monday, 21 November to Sunday, 18 December. The artworks will then be displayed in the following venues:

• Barking Gallery (23 January – 13 February 2012);
• Greenwich Victoria Hall (17 February – 4 March 2012);
• Harrows Art Centre - Hatch End (5 March - 23 March 2012);
• Wimbledon Art Gallery (26 March – 6 April 2012).

The paintings can be purchased at each venue or online (available internationally) by visiting EMERGENCY UK’s website. EMERGENCY UK will bear part of the postage and handling costs for shipments abroad.