A British artist, once so short of money that he used cheap pens costing a few cents each to create an award-winning painting, was named Wednesday as the winner of a prestigious British art prize.

Gary Lawrence from Essex, who is in his 50s, won the Visitors' Choice Prize in the John Moores Painting Prize 2018 run by the nationally famous Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

Thousands of visitors to the annual exhibition voted for Lawrence's dark and deceptive painting, Kos Town Paradise Hotel Front Terrace.

One fan of the painting said: "When you glance at it all you see is black, but as you stare, a picture forms. So clever, it reminds me of people -- you don't see someone's true colors right away, it takes time for them to open up."

Another added: "The way the artist uses very few colors to depict the terrace is extraordinary. The white lights attract the viewer and the green completes the outlines. Entrancing."

Sandra Penketh, director of art galleries at National Museum Liverpool, said: "We are very pleased to award Gary the 2018 Visitors' Choice, on behalf of the John Moores Painting Prize audience, who so loved this magical painting."

"Gary Lawrence's Kos Town Paradise Hotel Front Terrace is almost supernatural. It is a painting that is otherworldly, yet if you give it a few moments, its subject matter is revealed.

"Lawrence's minimal color palette, materials and the technique he uses demands that the viewer be active in deconstructing what they are looking at, almost like a slight of hand, transforming a mundane scene. It is clever and witty."

Artist Lawrence said: "It is always eye-opening to get feedback on one's work but an acknowledgement such as this award is very humbling. Being part of this John Moores exhibition has been terrific. I'm massively grateful to all the staff at the Walker Art Gallery and to the sponsors Rathbones."

John Duffy, Senior Trust Manager at Rathbones, said: "It's always exciting to see which painting resonates with visitors to the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition."

The John Moores Painting Prize competition at the Walker in Liverpool runs until Nov. 18. It also includes five prizewinning paintings from the fifth John Moores Painting Prize China are also displayed in the 2018 exhibition. Organized by the College of Fine Arts at Shanghai University, the China Prize was launched in 2010 to support the development of painting in China. 

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