DERWENT ART PRIZE

The Derwent Art Prize was created by the fine art brand Derwent in 2012 to reward excellence by showcasing the very best 2D and 3D artworks created in pencil, including graphite, coloured pencil, watersoluble pencils, pastel and charcoal. The biannual open exhibition is now in its 6th edition and this year received over 6,100 entries from artists all over the world. Seventy-two of these were chosen for exhibition at gallery@oxo in London. The exhibition ran until March 6, and will tour to Paris in early June.

Winners at this year’s competition included Nigerian artist, Femi Ikotun who won first prize for his self-portrait, Insecure (above). Femi wins £4,000 plus a year’s supply of Derwent products. The second prize went to Scotland-based artist, Randy Klinger for two of his drawings, Self Portrait 53 and Woman at Table. Randy was awarded £2,000 and a set of 72 Derwent Lightfast pencils. The Young Artist first prize was awarded to Melo Konini for his portrait Mum, I’m Bored (left). Melo, receives £4,000 and a Derwent Lightfast 100 Wooden Box. ‘Melo’s work was immediately selected to be the winner by Paul (Hobson), Katie (Hessel) and myself,’ writes Charmaine Watkiss, one of the three judges of the competition. ‘Overall we felt that the image reflected the times we are living in, having gone through the pandemic and slowly emerging to a normal life again. The angst in his portrait say it all really.’ The Young Artist second prize, worth £2,000 and a set of 72 Derwent Lightfast pencils, was awarded to Dylan Laddington for Disillusion 1. To stay updated on the Derwent Art Prize use #DerwentArtPrize at Facebook: @DerwentArtPrize and on Instagram: @DerwentArtPrize

► Femi Ikotun Insecure, pencil and charcoal on paper, 103/439in (27.5323cm), first prize winner in this year’s Derwent Art Prize. ‘In my work, I am capturing the continuous battles we fight within our minds and the way we show it through our facial expressions,’ Femi writes. ‘They are the struggles we feel so ashamed to share with most people but as an artist my primary objective is to capture this expression on white paper with graphite pencil and charcoal.’

▲ Melo Konini Mum, I’m Bored, pencil on paper, 12381/4in (30321cm), awarded the Young Artist first prize. Born in 2000 in South Africa and now based in Scotland, UK, Melo is currently finishing a degree in Architectural Technology at Aberdeen University. He was a contestant on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2021