Jojo bagged it

Monday, May 9, 2011

SINCE local art competitions happen only as annual events, artists wait too long to join them. But an artist can now take part in as many art contests as his heart fancies.

It’s now a join-all-you-can all over the Internet when it comes to art tilts. And here is the latest art contest to enter the scene. BaoBao Bags, a backpack brand, just concluded its very first art contest, searching for new blood. And believe it or not, this year’s grand prize winner is the Cebuano painter Jojo Gubalane. His award-winning entry is entitled “Geometry of Peace and Love.”

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Officially called “This is My Face,” the objective of the international illustration contest was “to look for new, creative and talented faces to display on backpacks,” according to its website. The winning artworks will be manufactured, printed and will be sold as Baobao “faces” [i.e. a rectangular fabric with an illustration or artwork, which can be attached to the bag pocket, using buttons].

The winners received cash prizes and Baobao will actually sell the designs created by the five artists and pay each a 15-percent royalty for all future sales of their designs. When these art backpacks are worn, they will serve as a kind of mobile gallery. A very novel concept, don’t you think?

The nice thing about online competitions is that only the image of the artwork is sent, so it’s very convenient to join. And in most cases, like the Baobao Bags competition, the winning artwork remains the property of the artist. Voting for the winners was made online for a period of time, hence the top five who garnered the highest number of votes were declared as “people’s choice.” And here are the five winners.