It’s hard to put into words how I feel about Wolfgang Webb’s music and how honoured and happy I feel to now call him a friend. Wolf creates hauntingly beautiful, stunning work.

Wolfgang Webb is a sublimely talented singer-composer based in Toronto, Canada. He approached me in 2022 to use my painting ‘Night in the Garden of Good and Evil’ on the inside sleeve of the vinyl release of his album The Insomniacs’ Lullaby. Making this even more surreal, one of my favourite painters, the incredible Zin Lim, has his work on the cover. It was great to hear that Wolf found some inspiration in my paintings and then amazing to discover his music and have it speak to me on so many levels.

The Insomniacs’ Lullaby is available on vinyl and all streaming platforms and the videos can be viewed on You Tube. Incredible! Find out for yourself!!

Wolfgang Webb’s website

 
I’m excited to be exhibiting at Gallery Jones in Ripponlea, Melbourne, with seven paintings selected for the Wet-Areas group show running 17 February to 23 March 2024.
 
Gallery Jones Art and Frame House is located at 67 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea Vic Australia.
Email info@galleryjones.com.au or tel. +61 488 211 614.
 

Steve Salo, ‘Flow, Aireys Inlet’, acrylic on Belgian linen, 46 x 48 cm

 
‘Self-portrait in Ukrainian Shirt’ has been selected for the Salon des Refusés, the alternative Archibald and Wynne Prize selection. It’s an honour to have my painting hanging with the works of so many artists I’ve long admired. This is my third time in the Salon.
 
Artist statement: Often words can’t quite capture a feeling observed. In this self-portrait I’m thinking about the war in Ukraine and reflecting on my Ukrainian heritage and how my grandfather Dido left an indelible mark on how I approach painting. He taught me the importance of doing your craft with love, full effort and attention, and as a life journey. Choosing to paint this self-portrait in egg tempera mirrors the patience and passion of ‘vyshyvanka’ traditional embroidered Ukrainian shirts.
 
The Salon des Refusés 2023 exhibition will be held at the National Trust S.H. Ervin Gallery, 2 Watson Rd, Millers Point on Observatory Hill, The Rocks in Sydney, from 6 May to 23 July 2023.
 
The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections of the ‘official’ exhibition with works which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape. The Salon takes its name from the renegade French Impressionists of the 1860s who held a breakaway exhibition from the French Academy.
 

 
I was honoured to have writer and painter Johan Vlok Louw select one of my paintings for the cover of his new book Sons of Mud. Published by Penguin Random House South Africa, Sons of Mud by Johan Vlok Louw was released in April 2023. I can’t wait to receive my copy and read what sounds like an amazing book.
 
The artwork ‘Passerby Rutland Street’ is from the Passerby series (which I still occasionally get inspired to add to). The original painting sold to a Melbourne collector. Fine art prints of exceptional quality are available from Bells Fine Art.
 

Cover artwork: Steve Salo, ‘Passerby Rutland Street’, oil on aluminium, 37 x 31 cm

 
Several new landscape paintings have arrived at Grainger Gallery in Canberra. View the selection.
 
Building 3.3, 1 Dairy Road, Fyshwick ACT
Email: art@graingergallery.com.au
Tel. +61 404 769 843
 

Steve Salo, ‘Trimbles Creek’, oil on canvas, 42 x 27 cm (46 x 31 cm framed in light oak)
Steve Salo, ‘Track to Sunnymead Beach’, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm (43 x 43 cm framed in light oak) SOLD

 
I was so happy to read this feedback about the fine art print of my still life painting ‘Glass of Strawberries’.
To Bells Fine Art:
“The print looks marvellous, I am so happy. The colours are so deeply full of pigments and the print feels like a kind of velvet. It looks really valuable, please can you give me the information how this kind of printing is called. The packing was perfect, Mr. Salo arrived without any damage. (Nearly 16.000km distance…) Thanks a lot for your friendly support and contact.”
Bells Fine Art: “We are thrilled that you love your print. Our method of printing is Giclee and uses pigment inks with the largest colour gamut available on the market. We are an internationally certified Hahnemuhle Studio and we have been inducted into their Excellence program with a recent Gold certification. And as you know we only use the best Hahnemuhle papers from the oldest paper mill in the world (1584), in Germany.”
 
View the collection

 
I have several paintings in the group exhibition Celebrating Contemporary Australian Landscape at Purple Noon Gallery, from 26 November 2022 to 28 February 2023. I’m honoured to be showing my works for the first time in this beautiful gallery at the foot of the Blue Mountains. View works
 
Purple Noon Gallery
606 Terrace Rd, Freemans Reach, NSW
Director: Dr Robyn Williams
Email: robyn@purplenoongallery.com.au
Tel. 0409 661662
 

Steve Salo, ‘Banks of the Moorabool River’, acrylic on Belgian linen, 50 x 50 cm
Steve Salo, ’Track to Sunnymead Beach, Aireys Inlet’, oil and beeswax on Belgian linen, 51 x 46 cm
Steve Salo, ‘The Back Beach of Sorrento’, oil and beeswax on Belgian linen, 50 x 50 cm. SOLD

 
I’m so lucky to live near the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, where the inspiration is limitless. These two paintings are now at Art2Muse Gallery in Sydney.
 
Landscapes, portraits and still life works currently available at Art2Muse
234 Jersey Road, Woollahra Sydney NSW Australia
 

Steve Salo, ‘Port Campbell’, acrylic on Belgian linen, 50 x 50 cm. SOLD
Steve Salo, ‘Afternoon Light Cape Otway’, oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm. SOLD