Bic has revealed the winners of its Art Master Africa competition, and three of the top 10 winners are South Africans, including Astral Msekeli, a 22-year-old security guard from Ophongolo in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, who was named as South Africa’s national winner for the artwork ‘Ubuntu’.
The competition, first incepted in 2017 in South Africa and expanded across Africa in 2019, encourages talent across Africa and the Middle East to showcase their creativity and create a piece of art using the Bic Ball Pen.
This year, the competition expanded even further to include the Middle East, reaching more than 3,700 artists. The winners included one continent-wide winner as well as 11 winners from countries within the Africa region.
Three South Africans in the top 10
Ugandan artist Gayi Eric was named the 2021 Bic Art Master of Africa for his portrait titled ‘Circle of Life’ that was created using four Bic Ball Pens and took a total of 210 hours to complete.
Cameroon’s Kamgaing took the second spot for his art piece titled ‘In My Room’, while Nigerian artist Odaro Franklin Osaivbie won the third price for his ‘Entranced’ artwork. South Africa’s Astral Msekeli (sixth place for ‘Ubuntu’ artwork), Thuso modikela (seventh place for Flowers of the Universe art piece) and Ashaba Gabito (ninth place for ‘Roll the Dice’ artwork) made it to the top 10 list of winners.
The first place winner received a cash prize of $2,000, and will have their piece showcased at an online personalised gallery as well as at La Collection Bic – the company’s official contemporary art collection and exhibition. Second and third place winners have received a cash prize of $1,000 and $500 respectively, while winners from across the region have received cash prizes as well as Bic hampers.
National winners across Africa were also announced and include:
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- 2021 BIC Art Master of Morocco: Badr Labied for the artwork ‘Enchantez la vie africaine’.
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- 2021 BIC Art Master of South Africa: Astral Msekeli for the artwork ‘Ubuntu’.
- 2021 BIC Art Master of Kenya: Stanley Were for the artwork ‘Life is what you make it’.
Competition allows Bic to support talent across Africa
The creative artwork was chosen from 6,350 entries submitted by more than 3,700 artists from 52 countries across the Middle East and Africa. Artists were requested to submit their creative work through the campaign’s dedicated microsite, BicArtMaster.com.
The work was shortlisted by a panel of judges including experts from Bic, renowned artists from the region, winners from previous Art Master Africa competitions and art experts from Europe. Among the judges was previous South African Bic Art Master winner Ennock Mlangeni.
Peter Van den Broeck, senior vice president and general manager for Middle East and Africa at Bic said Art Master Africa competition has allowed Bic to support thousands of talent across the region.
“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,” Van den Broeck said.
