At 75, BIC Rewards Nigerian Winners of ‘Art Master Africa’ Competition

Yinka Olatunbosun

The Anthony office of BIC, a world leader in stationery lighters and shavers, was abuzz last week for good reasons. Journalists were gathered for the formal announcement of the Nigerian winners of the flagship edition of the ‘Art Master Africa’ competition. Though the media friends were also given a mock drawing competition with an undecided closing, the real deal was meeting the young and gifted winning artists.

The competition which targeted Africa and the Middle East tasked budding artists to create a piece of art, using the famous BIC Ball pen. Two Nigerian artists were announced in third and fourth places –also enlisted amongst the top ten Art Masters of Africa.

The ‘Art Master Africa’ winners included one continent-wide winner as well as 11 winners from countries within the region. Odaro Franklin Osaivbie was named as 3rd place winner with his art piece, ‘Entranced’. Andrew Nathan came fourth with his art piece ‘Value.’

Both artists have been rewarded with a cash prize of $500 and $300 respectively alongside branded gift items. The event saw the attendance of the 2020 BIC Art Master of Africa, Fatiou Aboudou.

Osaivbie’s ‘Entranced’ was created using five BIC Ball Pens and took a total of 200 hours to complete while Nathan’s piece ‘Value’ was created using five BIC ball pens and took a total of 180 hours to complete.

Ugandan artist Gayi Eric was named the 2021 BIC Art Master of Africa. His portrait titled ‘Circle of Life’. In the second place was Kamgaing from Cameroon who developed the piece titled ‘In My Room’.

In his remarks, Osaivbie said: “I am a big fan of BIC pens because of their unique ball points. I use them to write and draw. I am grateful for BIC for running the Art Master Africa competition which allows talent across the region to express themselves through art and creativity.”

The Senior Sales Manager West Africa, Guillaume Groues, expressed his satisfaction on the impact of the competition. “Human expression and creativity are core values of BIC, and the inception of the Art Master Africa competition is testament to that. The competition has allowed us to support thousands of talent in Nigeria and across the continent,” he said.

The Art Master Africa competition is an annual competition that invites artists to creatively develop art pieces using the iconic BIC Ball Pen. The competition fosters creativity in Nigeria and across the region.

BIC has long been connected to art and regularly celebrates the creativity and originality of talented individuals. In 2018, BIC hosted the first of its kind exhibition with 150 creations 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 up and coming artists.