Zero Like

ZERO LIKE, Rome 1976

Even in his earliest years Zero Like was already in love with the work of his father, a popular Roman restorer, spending entire days in his workshop, carefully observing each and every little gesture, learning and internalizing qualities of precision, patience and calmness, absolute musts for this profession. He therefore learned the art of restoration only visually, but by then Zero Likehad already assimilated and metabolised all its technical aspect, which a few years later will be of vital importance for his artistic expression. Coinciding with his acquisition of the art of restoration, in 1996, after a brilliant scholastic career, he obtained a diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, thus acquiring profound knowledge in all kinds of painting techniques. At the age of 20, Zero Likeopens his first restoration workshop in the historic San Lorenzo district in Rome. Ever since the 70s, the San Lorenzo district has always been one of the pulsating hearts, together with the Trastevere district, of all Roman artistic movements. Painters’ workshops mix and intertwine with artisan boutiques, creating an artistic connective tissue which will have great influence on the Italian artistic movement. Indeed, during those years local painters opened their shops to the public, even though they really consisted of large rooms in an old industrial building of San Lorenzo, in Rome. With the 1984 exhibition, simply called “Atelier” and held in the Cerere pasta factory of Via degli Ausoni, those young painters managed to create the new Roman school, which will feature artists such as Dessi’, Schifano, Pizzi Canella and many others. All these artists were united by their return to painting, but not necessarily to figuration (two terms which often coincided with the rediscovery of color and art, proposed in the eighties by “Transavanguardia” and “Nuovi selvaggi”). Since then, the painting skills of the “Ragazzi di San Lorenzo” were further refined. It is in this context, as well as by working closely with established artists, that Zero Like develops a peculiar sensitivity, which is characterized by great technical ability, combined with an attention towards reality, events and the daily facts of Rome. A fan of both painting and restoration techniques, after two years from the opening of his San Lorenzo workshop, he specialized in the restoration of ancient works of art. Shortly thereafter, his particular talent is noticed by Vatican officials which, after several commissioned and well executed works, entrust him with the restoration of the entire marble epigraphic collection of the Constantinian cloister, inside the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura. The work is successfully completed in just 6 months. In 2002, due to a series of fortuitous circumstances, he offered his studio for film production and some shooting. It is due to this episode that his passion for cinema was born, which over the years has led him into meeting Greek actor Yorgo Voyagis, and actress Diana Curtis. His passion for this form of art will be at Agostini’s side in the following years of his artistic growth. In the same year, his artistic and exceptional manual skills are noticed and appreciated by his circle of friends working in the movies world; through them he collaborated in the production design for the first unit sets in the Gangs Of New York film, directed by Martin Scorsese, together with scenographers from Eugenio Bava’s school. While not abandoning restoration, his first love, and painting, in 2004 Zero Like was invited to be part of production design for the “Ocean’s Twelve” motion picture, directed by Steven Soderberg. In 2010, given his great acquired experience, he integrally designs production, all by himself, for the theatrical scenography of “10 partite” by Giuseppe Manfridi, a popular Italian playwright. He continues his restoration activity in his San Lorenzo workshop until 2013. From 2013 to 2016 motivated by the meeting with the greek shipowner Spyros Mazarakis, he deals with geopolitics and oil trade, weaving international relationship with the major oil companies, Aegean Marine Petroleum, National Oil Corporation Libia, Saudi Aramco, Petronas and Quatar Petroleum. His love for restoration, painting, cinema and scenography gave life to a multifaceted inspiration, an unusual mix of techniques and know-how of parallel and yet integrated worlds, which Zero Like connects in an innovative way, and marked by a continuous search creating a particular and powerful artistic mixture. In recent years, Zero Like has begun to create his works using all his knowledge of matter and pigments, but at the same time continuously experimenting, and letting the experiences from those many worlds he lived so intensely flow freely and merge on his frames.