Melbourne artist Mr Warren Lane has been named the winner of the 2009 Casella Art Prize at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery. Judge and Head of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Visual and Performing Arts, Associate Professor Margaret Woodward, selected Lane’s work, The Accidental Activist to win the $2 500 Casella Art Prize for Excellence in Painting. "The exhibition's theme of urban and built environment has an important role to play in how we understand and reflect the places we inhabit, visit and construct,” said Professor Woodward. “Skilfully executed and very firmly set in an urban environment, Lane's painting invites us to consider the tension between the natural and built environment and to be mindful of the natural world in contemporary urban life.” Now in its fourth year, the Casella Art Prize aims to support new, emerging and established artists within Australia. The exhibition will run at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery until Sunday 26 April.