Shown above is an installation view of Scape, 2008, a public artwork commissioned by Hydro Tasmania Consulting through the arts@work Corporate Art Scheme that was produced in collaboration with Glasgow based artist, Stephen Hurrel.

Scape comprises of 165 highly polished stainless steel poles in an area 7O x 4 metres with galvanised steel edging and blue-metal gravel.  Sited on the Tasman Highway in front of the new Hydro Tasmania Consulting building, it reflects the ever changing light conditions of the surrounding Tasmanian landscape and shimmers with the passing lights of the highway traffic.

John Vella was born in Sydney, and moved to Hobart in 1996, where he lives with his wife Sonia, and children, Sophia and Vincenzo. Since dropping out of studying architecture in 1988, he has: travelled extensively overseas, worked as a waiter, labourer, photographer, telemarketer, truck loader, phone book factory hand, exhibitions officer, and gallery attendant; completed a DipFA (National Art School Sydney), a BFA (Hons) first class, and an MFA at the Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart where he is currently the Head of Sculpture.

Selected solo exhibitions include FUME, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport (2OO6); Inklein, Criterion Gallery (2OO5); PlaceMats, Apartment, Melbourne (2OO4) and Going Off, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra (2OOO). Selected group exhibitions include Portraits and Architecture, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; I Walk the Line..., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2OO9); New Deities, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport; Nourish, CAST Gallery, Hobart (all 2OO7); Subpoena, Conical Inc., Melbourne (2OO6); Free Time, CAST Gallery, Hobart (2OO4) and The Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award, Melbourne. (2OO3)

Vella’s diverse works tackle beauty, status and cultural anxieties, and have been exhibited and reviewed locally, nationally and internationally. He has received a number of significant Arts Tasmania and Australia Council grants, and has completed 5 major public art commissions.  His work is held in public and private collections.

See article in Australian Art Collector magazine (Issue 33) featuring John Vella’s work in the ‘Smart Art’ section.

Enter the flash site here for more images of his photobased and sculptural work.

John Vella’s CV