About
STEVE SALO
Bio
“Through the visual voice of painting, I communicate emotion. We are complex of mind and spirit, my intent as a contemporary portrait artist is to explore the human psyche through painting these complexities. I’m interested in portraying this aspect rather than focussing on the surface level alone. My landscape paintings also go beyond the visual perception, I am more concerned with portraying the feelings evoked by being in a place.”
— Steve Salo
Steve Salo is an Australian contemporary artist, best known for his emotive portraiture and expressive landscape paintings.
Steve showed a natural talent for painting at a young age, getting his first oil paints at the age of eight. Of Ukrainian descent, he received early encouragement from his craftsman grandfather (‘dido’) who lived next door in Herne Hill, Geelong. His dido taught him many things, including the importance of doing your craft with love and full effort and attention. Hours upon hours in the workshop observing the patience and passion that went into his woodwork and bootmaking left an indelible mark. Respect your tools, look after them, create an environment that inspires your best work.
As a child, in and out of hospital with severe asthma, Steve found solace and self-expression through his drawings. His first studio was at age 16, the family’s outdoor bungalow amid the orchard. These early influences have carried through to the evocative paintings Steve creates today. Studying books about the master painters and experimenting in many mediums and across various subject matter, he is largely self-taught.
In his 20’s and into his 30’s, art didn’t seem to fit with the world around him and Steve painted sporadically. Working in graphic design, picture framing and a host of other jobs, he felt a deepening frustration. A fire in his Torquay studio in early 2013 brought Steve’s art to a cross-road. Losing most of his art history and materials, he realised painting was what he wanted and needed to be doing. He committed to boundless experimentation and to no longer hoarding what he created. Painting full-time, his exhibition Portraits of Artists was held at Metropolis Gallery, Geelong, in 2014. Since then, he’s created 14 more solo shows and exhibited in over 80 group exhibitions.
Steve’s profile as a contemporary artist continues to grow, with paintings shortlisted in prestigious prizes across Australia and awarded a prize in Florence, Italy. An artist of international appeal, his works are in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, UAE, Europe, the UK, USA and Canada.
In 2017 he undertook artist residencies in coastal Portsea, Victoria and in the Hämeenkyrö lake region in Finland. Paintings from the Finland residency were shown at the Embassy of Finland in Canberra as part of the event program for the Suomi Finland 100 centenary of independence. Works inspired by his residency at Police Point were exhibited at Metropolis Gallery. In 2019 Steve returned to the Mornington Peninsula for three weeks to create more works for Pier to Point, exhibited at the Frankston Arts Centre, Melbourne. A Plein Air Experience in the Southern Highlands, a wet hang exhibition of 10 paintings, was held at Whitewall Art Projects, Berrima, in 2021.
A highlight has been his collaborations with Back to Back Theatre Company, including a portrait series of the ensemble actors and artistic director in 2016 and two paintings featured in the set of the 2021 production Entity.
Steve created solo exhibitions for Blackroom Gallery, Flinders, and Whitewall Art Projects, Berrima, in 2022. He exhibited paintings at Art2Muse Gallery, Sydney, following his 2021 show Brushstrokes and at Grainger Gallery, Canberra and Purple Noon Gallery, Freemans Reach. Steve continues to paint small still life works, having rediscovered his love of painting still life, a calming practice during the pandemic. He’s also been experimenting with watercolour and egg tempera.
Steve’s portraits and figurative works are shown on Saatchi Art. He’s exhibited at Saatchi’s The Other Art Fair Sydney and was selected by Saatchi Art curators as one of the artists to create works for their first NFT project The Other Avatars, released in 2022.
Updated February 2023