Jacopo Cardillo alias Jago was born in 1987 in Frosinone, Italy. He attended the art school there, then the school of Fine Arts. From 2016, the year of his first personal exhibition in the Italian capital, he lived and worked in Italy between Rome, Verona and Naxos in Greece. He currently lives and works in New York.

Teaching

Since 2016, Jago has given several courses and seminars in schools, universities and academies in Italy, China and the USA. For example, the artist has taught at the New York Academy of Art where he gave a series of masterclasses in 2018. 

Awards and prizes

Jago has received numerous national and international awards such as the Pontifical Medal, awarded to him by Cardinal Ravasi on the occasion of the Pontifical Academies of the Vatican City Prize in 2010, the Pio Catel Prize in 2015, the Public Art Fair Award in 2017, the Monte-Carlo Gala of Art in 2013, and he received the investiture of Mastro Della Pietra at MarmoMacc 2017.

Participation in the Venice Biennale

At the age of 24, on the recommendation of the art historian Maria Teresa Benedetti, he was selected by prof. Vittorio Sgarbi and will participate in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion - Rome - Palazzo Venezia, where he showed the marble bust of Pope Benedict XVI (2009) for which he received the Pontifical Medal the same year.

His most emblematic work

One of his most significant works is "Habemus Hominem", created by the artist following the resignation of Pope Ratzinger, stripping the original sculpture of its papal vestments, depicting the naked Pontiff. The work was exhibited in Rome in 2018 at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Villa Borghese, with a record number of visitors (including 3,500 at the unveiling). "Habemus Hominem" was recently sold in shares via the art co-ownership platform Feral Horses and is currently owned by 1,150 art lovers. It has already begun its journey into museums with a loan to the Doria Pamphilj Foundation in Rome (2019).

Artistic Residence

Today, Jago is an artist-in-residence at the North American Sculpture Center in Westbury, New York, where he is sponsored by ABC Stone and Precision Stone Inc.

Jago, a social artist

Jago's artistic research is based on a complex conceptual framework and techniques inherited from the masters of the Renaissance. He always tries to establish a relationship with his community through his videos and his presence on social networks, through which he shares the process of creating his works. Often referred to as a "social artist", Jago has over 320,000 followers on social networks who can all "virtually enter" the artist's studio, follow his fascinating creative process and even ask questions directly to the artist.