Saturno Buttò

Born in Portogruaro (VE) in 1957, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, graduating in 1980. His work is characterized by a very personal formal interpretation of European sacred art and flawless technical expertise, which recalls the great masters of the Italian painting tradition. In a constant conflict between eroticism and pain, transgression and ecstasy, Buttò's precious paintings on wood examine the inflexible and contradictory vision of Western religious iconography of the body, on the one hand exhibited as an object of worship, on the other denied in its value of pure erotic beauty. The result is a fascinating tension that first and foremost exalts the human figure, which in his work has always been at the centre of the scene. After more than a decade spent in his studio perfecting the oil painting technique, he began his exhibition career in 1993, the year in which his first monograph was published: ''Ritratti da Saturno: 1989-1992''. Since then he has had numerous solo exhibitions in Europe, Asia and the United States. Later on he published four other monographic catalogues: ''Opere 1993-1999'' and ''Martyrologium'' (2007) and ''Saturnicore'' (2013) and ''Breviarium Humanae Redemptionis'' (works from 2007 to 2014). He currently lives and works in Bibione, near Venice.