Brush with God

By CHARLENE MACAULAY

John Gambardella with his work Divine Intervention, which will feature as part of the Annual ANL Maritime Art Prize. 87106 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI

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JOHN Gambardella is hanging on divine intervention to help him take out a prestigious art prize.

The Footscray artist has been selected to exhibit at the 2012 Annual ANL Maritime Art Prize with his work, Divine Intervention, a canvas painting of Melbourne’s Mission to Seafarers building done in enamel and acrylic.

This is the sixth consecutive year Mr Gambardella has been selected as a finalist for this prize, and he is hoping this will be the year he will scoop the $15,000 prize.

“(The) work is a symbolic interpretation between the old world against the ever-growing modern structures which surround the Mission to Seafarers and the need to safeguard its existence – hence the mobile cranes as the protectors,” he said.

Earlier this year Mr Gambardella captured Italy’s most iconic landmarks – including the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Trevi Fountain – as part of the Art in Public Places program.

He also received a special mention at the Corangamarah Art Prize in March for his piece Salt Expanse – Lake Eyre, which will be included as part of his solo exhibition later this year.

The Italian-born man is a self-taught artist who gave up his craft in his mid-twenties because he couldn’t make any money from it.

Instead, he took up a job as an accountant for the Federal Government, and only picked up the paintbrushes again in 2005.

He is now inundated with work, painting a range of oils, acrylics, enamels, watercolours and pastels.

Devine Intervention will be on display from 5-31 October at the Mission to Seafarers building in Melbourne.