Mimmo Paladino was interested in art early on; his uncle was a painter and introduced him to traditional painting techniques. Paladino studied at the Benevento art school, where, under the influence of works by Paul Klee and Max Ernst, he experimented with collage, frottage and non-representational painting. Until the 1970s he took his motifs mainly from mythology. He developed his own fresco-like technique, which became char-acteristic for his later works, painting large walls with pastel colours. His oeuvre comprises watercolour, oil and tempera paintings, prints and sculptures. Together with Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, with whom he was invited to the 1980 Venice Biennale, he is a main representative of the Italian Transavanguardia.
