The selection process
In the first phase of the Dulux art challenge, the Guardian approached three colleges from around the UK: Camberwell College of Arts, Newcastle College, and the University of the West of England. The head of fine art at each college was asked to draw up a shortlist of talented students to nominate for the challenge. From these nominees the Guardian chose one student to represent each college.
The art challenge
The Guardian asked the three artists to create an original work of art, on canvas of any dimension or proportion up to 2 metres square, using only Dulux paints. They could use as few or as many colours as they liked, selected from the broad Dulux colour range, and in any finish: gloss, eggshell or emulsion. They could not mix the colours themselves, but were asked to select them from the Dulux Colour Mixing Unit. The paint colours were then mixed by a local Dulux Decorator Centre.
The theme
In the first phase of the challenge, we asked the students to paint in any style on the theme of "Envy". Envy, of course, has predominantly negative associations, but it can have a positive side, too: aspiration, inspiration, motivation, competition, beauty, desire, passion are all facets of envy. Each art student was encouraged to be as bold and inspirational as possible in their interpretation. And to provide an incentive, we offered each student a fee of £500 for their work, plus any expenses.
The results
The first three paintings, by Daniel Jamieson of Camberwell College of Arts, Mikaela Komiski from Newcastle College, and Joseph Gower from the University of the West of England, are now in our gallery. Each is accompanied by text written by the artists, telling us what inspired them, how they selected their colours and how they went about creating their original artwork.
The second phase
Next month we will be asking three more colleges to undergo the same process, three more art students will be selected, and three more artworks will be displayed in our gallery. The next three students will be asked to produce work on the theme of "Reinvent". Reinvent could mean reinterpret, recycle, re-use for a new purpose, reintroduce the familiar, replace the old, redesign a classic ... the interpretation will be left to the artists.
The competition
We're offering these unique works of art as competition prizes. Just select the artwork you would like to win and enter the prize draw to win an original painting to add colour to your home and start you off on your art collection.
