The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Ugandan among top winners
| THE INDEPENDENT | Lister Brian Kansiime, a Ugandan artist is among the winners of the 2019 Bic Art Master Africa Competition.
BIC, a world leader in stationery, lighters, and shavers, has a longstanding history with art, and established the Bic Art Master Africa Competition to recognise and point a stronger light on artistic talent in Africa.
The competition was first held in South Africa in 2017 and following its success, it expanded to include all of Africa in 2019.
Kansiime emerged as the contest’s People’s Choice winner, chosen by online voters for his piece titled ‘Life’, which depicts the true definition of a young girl’s happiness. He received US$500 (Approx. Shs1.8 million) and a BIC Artistry Kit.
Kansiime is a 24-year old graduate of International Business from the Makerere University Business School Nakawa. He is a self-taught artist. He is known for doing portraits of local celebrities, famous people, and walk-in clients. He picked his award from the headquarters of African Queen in Kampala, the distributers of BIC stationery, lighters and shavers, at a function that was heavily covered by the media.
A portrait of a half-man, half-lion by Fatiou Aboudou titled `Black lion’ won the competition. The original piece took 250 hours to complete and was drawn using only black BIC Cristal® Medium ballpoint pens. ‘Black Lion’ was chosen for its creativity and originality by a panel of experts and is set to become part of ‘La Collection BIC’, the company’s official art collection. Aboudou was awarded the grand prize of US$1,000 USD and a personalised gallery to showcase his artwork. The creative artwork was chosen from 5,242 entries submitted by more than 2,400 artists from 47 African countries on the competition’s dedicated website BICArtMaster.com.
BIC’s connection to art spans more than 60 years. The brand regularly celebrates the creativity and originality of artists who find great inspiration in creating masterpieces using BIC’s stationery, lighters, and shavers products.
In 2018, BIC hosted the first of its kind exhibition with 150 works of art by 80 international artists. The collection, which started in the late nineties at an exhibition in Italy devoted to the life story of Marcel Bich today consists of more than 250 works by internationally recognised or upcoming artists. In addition, BIC has a number of established partnerships with art institutes around the world and has its products displayed in a number of renowned museums around the world.
Commenting on the success of the competition, Peter Van den Broeck, General Manager, Middle East and Africa said, “Africa is undoubtfully rich in inspiration, talent, and creativity. We were very impressed with the submissions we received and the beautiful work that was produced using only BIC’s ballpoint pens. BIC has a longstanding history with art, and we are proud to have established a platform that helps recognise and shed a stronger light on artistic talent in Africa. We thank all the talented artists who took part in the 2019 BIC Art Master Africa competition as well as all the fans who voted for their favourite artwork.”
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