Eolo Paul Bottaro, a Melbourne born artist of Italian heritage who divides his time between Sicily and Australia, has always worked across multiple mediums. 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.
- Excerpts from an essay by Marguerite Brown, 2021
Eolo Paul Bottaro (painter, sculptor, printmaker) has been exhibiting regularly since the late 1990s in Melbourne, Sydney, Palermo, and Syracuse. His works have been included in important curated exhibitions of contemporary art and print making, including those at the Geelong Gallery, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Mildura Arts Centre, Benalla Regional Gallery, Latrobe University, Galleria Regionale Palazzo Bellomo di Siracusa, and the National Arts Club in New York.
Bottaro was the winner of Geelong Acquisitive Print Award (1997, 2011), City of Darebin Art Award (2008), Hutching Acquisitive Art Prize (2011); National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery (2012), and the Nillumbik Art Prize (2012); and his works had been included as finalists in the Archibald Prize, Fleurieu Art Prize, Conrad Jupiters Art Prize, Darebin Latrobe Art Prize, Burnie Print Prize, Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Deakin University Sculpture Award, Kilgour Prize, A.M.E. Bale Travelling Scholarship, and numerous others.
Subject of numerous art reviews and exhibition essays, Bottaro’s works have been acquired by the State Library of Victoria, Geelong Gallery, Monash University, Geelong Gallery, City of Darebin Art Collection, Essendon Airport, Museo Civico Archeologico di Polizzi Generosa, Sicily, as well as notable corporate and private collections in Australia and abroad.
Education
1997
Private Research and practice of Fresco painting technique
1995
Advanced Colour Theory and Materials, Edal Marcus
1994
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Victorian College of the Arts
Selected Solo Exhibition
2021
The Artist's Studio, Metro Gallery, Melbourne
2019 / 2020
The Essendon Fields Titan Project, Hyatt Place, Essendon Fields, Melbourne
2018
The Polizzi Project, Polizzi Generosa, Italy
2017
Udapata The Gathering Place, The Australian Events Centre, Hyatt Place, Melbourne
2016
Paintings from Sicily, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2015
Il Percorso della Nativita’ Caravaggesca, Parlatoio delle Monache di Santa Lucia alla Badia, Siracusa
2014
Scomparso, Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Palermo
2013
Colour Without a Name, James Makin Gallery,
Melbourne Paper Tales: Survey Prints & Works on Paper, Montsalvat Arts Centre,
Victoria Humanising, Queen St Gallery, Sydney
2011
Oro, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2008
The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2006
Composing pigments from Naples, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2004
Il Siciliano, Intrude 2, Melbourne
2003
Smyrnios Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Recent Group Shows
2018
Only Humans, Collins Place, Melbourne
2016
Rick Amor Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of Ballarat
2015
Natività Caravaggesca, Galleria Regionale Palazzo Bellomo di Siracusa, Siracusa, Italy
2015
Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW
Rick Amor Print Prize, Montsalvat Art Centre, Vic
2014
37° 48′ S: Artists Navigate Melbourne, (Touring) São Paulo, Brazil; Sofitel on 2014 Collins, Melbourne; The National Arts Club, New York
2013
Fleurieu Art Prize, Adelaide
Banyule Works On Paper Prize, Hatch Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
Hornsby Art Prize, Sydney
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery
Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, NSW
2012
A.M.E Bale Travelling Scholarship
2011
Korean International Art Fair, Seoul, Korea
The River, curated by Dr Jacqueline Healy, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre
Stone Love, Lancaster Press Melbourne
Prometheus Prize, QLD
A.M.E Bale Travelling Scholarship
1992 - 2010
Regular inclusion in curated group exhibitions in regional, tertiary, and municipal galleries and, as a finalist, in a number of painting, printmaking, and sculpture prizes.
Awards and Prizes
2012
People Choice Award, National Works on Paper Prize, Mornington Peninsular Regional Art Gallery
Nillumbik Prize Montsalvat, Vic
2011
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery
Hutchins Art Prize, Tasmania
2009 - 2010
Globalisation Public Mural Project, LaTrobe University
2008
City of Darebin Art Award
2006
Highly Commended 'Salon de Montsalvat', Landscape Painting and Printmaking, Montsalvat,
Peoples Choice Award, Metro Prize, Metro Gallery
1997
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery
Selected Collections
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
Monash University, Melbourne
Geelong Art Gallery
Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
MGI Meyrick Webster
City of Darebin Art Collection, Melbourne
Hyatt Place – Essendon Fields, Melbourne
Essendon Airport, The Australian Events Centre
Museo Civico Archeologico di Polizzi Generosa, Sicily
Corporate and private collections in Australia and abroad.
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