Still from The Fairy Queen video installation (2015). Courtesy of Atelier dell'Errore.
Still from The Fairy Queen video installation (2015). Courtesy of Atelier dell'Errore.

Coinciding with London’s Frieze Week, Max Mara and Collezione Maramotti will stage a unique exhibition featuring works from Atelier dell’Errore (Atelier of Mistake), a laboratory of visual arts created 14 years ago to help children from neuropsychiatric clinics in the Italian areas of Reggio Emilia and Bergamo to express themselves through art.

The exhibition, which will be staged at the London gallery Moretti Fine Art, draws unusual and beguiling parallels between Old Master works and those made by the children of the Atelier dell’Errore, highlighting the permanence of certain themes and archetypes, unaffected by time and geographical constraints.

Titled “The Guardian Animals + Other Invisible Beings,” the exhibition will be split into two sections. The first will stage a dialogue between the 14th century painting L’Arcangelo Michele, by Andrea de’ Bartoli, and a series of works by the children of Atelier dell’Errore depicting the seven deadly sins.

Andrea de’ Bartoli, L’Archangelo Michele (14th century) (left). Various artists, Gola (gluttony, 2016) (right). Courtesy of Atelier dell’Errore .

“The Atelier’s exhibition, conceived especially for this event in London, plays on two opposite and utmost poles. One is positive, filled with air, light and trust. The other pole is negative, dark, deep and tough as a prophecy. The exhibition presents the inevitable mix of good and bad which our everyday lives consist of,” Luca Santiago Mora, of Atelier dell’Errore, told artnet News.

For the duration of the exhibition, the Max Mara flagship store in London, at 21 Old Bond Street, will sell limited edition shopping bags printed with images of the children’s drawings, produced by Max Mara in collaboration with Atelier dell’Errore. All proceeds will go to the Atelier in order to help its growth and development.

Massimiliano Gioni. Photo Marco De Scalzi, courtesy of Fondation Nicola Trussardi, Milan.

On October 6 at 7pm, the Italian Cultural Institute in London will host a dialogue between uber-curator Massimiliano Gioni, associate director and exhibitions director at New York’s New Museum; and Arturo Galansino, general director of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, who will explore the innovative vision of the Atelier.

“The Guardian Animals + Other Invisible Beings” will be on view at Moretti Fine Art, 4 Ryder Street, London SW1Y 6QB, from October 4- November 2, 2016.