Charity art exhibition in Barking

The “Zago and your Friends” Charity Art Exhibition 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 a selection of 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 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.
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 Gallery will be open to the public from Monday, 23rd of January to Monday, 13th of Febuary. The artworks will then be displayed in the following venues:

• 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: www.emergencyuk.org. EMERGENCY UK will bear part of the postage and handling costs for shipments abroad.