Rodriguez wins Alwani Summer Painting exhibition with ‘Sacred Heart’ view

A painting by Sebastian Rodriguez ‘View of Sacred Heart’ has won the first prize in the 2018 Alwani Summer Painting Exhibition. The competition is opened annually to paid up members of the
Gibraltar Fine Arts Association and carries a single winning prize of £5,000.

This year’s winning entry will become the property of the Kishin Alwani Foundation.

The competition in 2018 has attracted 73 works from 47 artists. The winners were announced at the opening of the exhibition this week at the Fine Arts Gallery and will remain on show during the
summer.

At the opening Culture Minister Steven Linares praised the work of all the artists presenting their work and the support the arts receive from Kishin Alwani and the foundation. President of Fine Arts Association Paul Cosquieri spoke of their gratitude to Mr Alwani and for the growth of the exhibition which this year has attracted a high quality of work.

Mr Alwani spoke of how pleased he was to once again support the arts and pledged to continue his support.

Curator Gino Sanguinetti also announced six highly commended works receiving certificates: Leslie Gaduzo ‘Still Moment’, Ambrose Avellano ‘Flowers for La Tsunami’, Aaron Soleci ‘Corpse Plant
Woman’, Alan Perez ‘The Tempest’, Maral Rios ‘Aura’ and Javier Plata ‘Puna y Paramo’.

This year’s judge was former Chief Executive Officer at Gibraltar Cultural Services, Yvette Zarb Bensusan.

Sebastian Rodriguez – well known to most local artists for framing their work – entered the summer exhibition for the first time. His was a last minute entry and he admits he would have liked to have worked more on it having completed it in a matter of days.

“I am shocked I have won,” he says.

Throughout his life he has always drawn and painted but feels more confident when drawing.

“I had the drawing and I was not going to enter it but then I painted it in around two days.”

The view of Sacred Heart (in water based oils) is one he has always wanted to paint and it was only earlier this year that he got down to it.

“It is a view I have always loved and one I can connect to. In fact it was Sarah Miles who posted this view on social media and reminded me how much I loved it and told her I would paint it one day.”

This will push him to do more in future and enter other competitions, he says.

He talks of plein air painting – leaving the studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing outdoors - “painting from life and where I feel connected” and this is the route he now wants to
take.

The Alwani Summer Painting Exhibition 2018 will remain on show at the Fine Arts Gallery throughout the summer. 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday.