Eolo Paul Bottaro Italian Australian, b. 1974

Eolo Paul Bottaro is a Melbourne born artist of Italian heritage who divides his time between Sicily and Australia. He has always worked across multiple mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking . In his oeuvre mythology and urban life occupy the same space, as he adapts ancient tales often sourced from art history to create contemporary narratives. Each of his finely rendered oils, sculptures and works on paper have the capacity to send the viewer on an imaginative and intellectual journey to decode their meaning.

By enacting ancient stories in familiar urban surrounds, the artist alludes to the enduring relevance of myth to express human experience. Alongside his interest in myth and place, considerable attention is dedicated to that ephemeral quality that keep the eye and spirit engaged – beauty. Not in a cliché sense of a gorgeous face or body represented in paint, but a beauty that resides in both the fine details rendered, and his overarching compositions that sync with natural geometry (such as the golden mean) to create a pleasing visual harmony.

In his attention to the aesthetics of picture making, the artist’s skilled application and rigorous technique comes to the fore. Bottaro works with pure hand-ground colour pigments that he mixes with gesso, egg tempera and linseed oil, and layers in one glowing glaze of paint after another. The result is a depth and translucency to his colour application which is deeply satisfying to behold. ‍