Ugandan artist Gayi Eric won ksh.220,000 grand prize after being named the 2021 BIC art master.
It took Gayi 210 hours and four BIC ball pens to create his winning portrait titled Circle of life. He took home USD 2000 which is an equivalent of Ksh 220,000 and UGX 7.1 million.
Kamgaing from Cameroon attained the second position for his art “In My Room” while in the third position was Odaro Franklin Osaivbie from Nigeria with his art “Entranced.” They both take home USD 1000 and USD 500 respectively.
Winners of the competition are drawn from 11 countries within the African region, to join the continent-wide winner.
Art master is an initiative launched by BIC to encourage talent around Africa and the middle east to create art using ball pens. talents showcase their creativity and enter a contest in which the winner attains the BIC master of Africa label.
This is a yearly competition that originated in southern Africa in 2017 and extended into the rest of Africa and the middle east.
In Kenya, Stanley Was won the 2021 BIC Art master of Kenya with his artwork ‘life is what you make it’ and was feted on 13th October at the BIC headquarters in Kasarani, Nairobi. The event was graced by talented comedian Timothy Kimani (Njugush).
Other winners across Africa include Badr labeled morocco with the artwork ‘enchantez la vie africaine’ and Astral Msekeli of south Africa with his artwork ‘Ubuntu’.
Entries across Africa and middle east were up to 6350 submitted by 3700 artists from 52 countries. Creative artworks were submitted through the campaign’s microsite and were shortlisted by a panel of judges who include; experts from BIC and renowned artists from the region, winners from previous Art Master Africa competitions and experts from Europe.
“We are proud of the impact that the art Master Africa competition has had on the talent in the region to date. BIC has a long-standing history with art and the inception of the Art Master Africa competition has allowed us to support thousands of talents across the region.” Peter van de Broeck, senior vice president and General manager in the middles east and Africa said in part, adding
“With the competition expanding into the middle east this year, we are confident that we will continue to motivate and shine a bright light on talent across the region creating a future generation of creative and inspiring individuals.”
