Contest for redesigned Skywards cards opens

Dubai: Budding artists from across the world are being invited to enter a competition, in which the prize is for their work to be displayed on Skywards membership cards and at Art Dubai 2011.

Winners will also receive $5,000 (Dh18,365). This year, Emirates redesigned its Skywards frequent flyer membership cards with works by artists such as Damien Hirst, Christopher Ries and Simone Cenedese.

Next year, the cards will display the winning works. Artists have three briefs to work under: gold, silver and blue. Entries need to reflect and interpret the mood of each of these qualities.

Under the gold brief, the following qualities need to be captured: luxurious, elite and precious. Under the silver brief, the following qualities need to be captured: sophistication, intelligence and richness. Finally, under the blue brief, the following qualities need to be captured: bold, visionary and modern.

Beginning of career

Ben Floyd, Director and Co-Founder, Art Dubai, told Gulf News: "This is a global competition, not just for artists of the region, and it is aimed at those who are at the start of their artistic careers.

"By launching this competition, Skywards is providing an opportunity for artists who have yet to be discovered by offering global exposure by way of the loyalty cards.

"One of the toughest obstacles for artists to overcome at the beginning of their careers is to get their work seen. The Skywards Future Artists Programme will give the winning artists worldwide exposure overnight, providing an enormous boost to their careers," Floyd said.

Art Dubai will be held on March 16-19, 2011. The 2010 edition saw more than 70 galleries from 30 galleries exhibit at the Madinat Jumeirah base, with an extensive programme of events including the Global Art Forum and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize

It is slated as the largest art fair of its kind in the region.

Floyd continued: "Dubai is regularly associated with magnitude of scale, but it provides an exciting challenge to artists to alternatively respond to such a small space."

However, the artwork itself does not have to be the size of what is displayed on the card; entries of sculpture, photography, paintings and drawings can be entered.

"Skywards encourages artists to interpret the competition's criteria in their own way, and it will be image of that work that will go on the card," he said.

The winning Skywards artwork will also be displayed on other materials, and each time the artist's name will be credited.

Rules: No fee for entry

- Artists must be 18 and over

-There's no entry fee

- Deadline is August 31, 23:59 GMT

- Accepted media: 2D and 3D, including acrylic, ceramics, glass, digital media, illustration, installation, mixed media, mosaic, oil, pastel, photography, sculpture and watercolour.

- Upload a photograph of your work in jpeg file format (under 5MB) and submit a description of how your work meets the brief at ourfutureartists.com, when the site goes live early August.

- Your work must be created solely by yourself.

- Your work must not have been used for any commercial purposes.

-You must not have had more than three solo exhibitions on public display.

Contact:

For more information, log on to www.ourfutureartists.com