January 18, 2023
Interview with Eolo Paul Bottaro
Interview with Eolo Paul Bottaro
In this video, Emilio Longo interviews Australian-Sicilian figurative artist, Eolo Paul Bottaro. Maintaining his practice for over 20 years across Australia, and Italy, Paul is well regarded for his knowledge of Renaissance materials, techniques and processes, as well as the narratives that artworks of the period were based on. Having a Sicilian background and being born and raised in Preston, Melbourne, Paul graduated from Prahran College of the Arts in 1992 and entered directly into the Victorian College of the Arts where he graduated in 1994, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. Paul has spent considerable time travelling throughout Europe and studying firsthand the works of the European masters, with a specific focus on the process of fresco painting. Exhibiting his drawings, paintings and sculptures since the 1990s in Melbourne and Sydney—Australia, as well as Palermo and Syracuse—Sicily, Paul’s work is featured in public and private collections in Australia and internationally. He has won multiple awards throughout his life including the National Works on Paper Prize for Mornington Peninsula Regional Art Gallery in 2012, as well as being a finalist in many other eminent awards including the Archibald Prize. Supplementing his income through teaching, Paul has taught various workshops concerning fresco painting in Melbourne and Italy, as well as being successful in receiving an array of commissions, from carrying out fresco restorations in churches in Sicily, to being commissioned to create large public sculptures for Essendon Fields in Melbourne. Topics discussed include, Paul growing up in a migrant Sicilian family in Melbourne during the 1970s and 80s, discovering from an early age his objective to become an artist and his experiences of art school, and learning technique as a self-taught student, as well as through the guidance of Edal Marcus. Paul explains his travels to Italy to study and uncover the working methods of fresco painting, how he uses Renaissance motifs such as myth and allegory in his work to connect with a contemporary audience, and how he convinced the National Gallery of Victoria to grant permission to allow master copying within the gallery, as well as how he has established himself with commercial galleries in Melbourne. Additionally, Paul also elaborates on his commissioned projects and how he has realised public artworks of a large scale while working with a team of various professionals and trades people.
Paul’s website: www.eolopaulbottaro.com
Paul's email: [email protected]
Paul’s website: www.eolopaulbottaro.com
Paul's email: [email protected]