Dean Vella

Art Brokerage: Dean Vella Australian Artist: b. 1958. Impressionist painter Dean Vella's journey as a professional artist began in his hometown of Broken Hill in outback Australia following his graduation from the Broken Hill Technical College in 1978. His work draws on this desert landscape and the vibrant surrounds of his current home in tropical north Queensland through their use of bold and bright colours and sense of space. Flowers, tropical fish and native birds often feature in his pieces. "The bright colours are the result of my observations of nature; in reality they are not exaggerated, but true to life,'' he says. His first major sell-out solo exhibition was held in Sydney in 1995, followed by his first international exhibition the following year. In 1997, Vella was invited by the Chinese Government to exhibit his work in China. In 1998, his painting "Wind in the Willows" became the first western painting ever placed in the vast collection of the Guangdon Museum of Art in China. Vella's works have since been exhibited in the US and hang in private and corporate collections in 19 different countries. In 1999, Vella was voted one of Australia's top 100 artists by Australian Art Collector magazine. Asked to describe his work, he says: "Art has no rules, colour has no boundaries."