Njideka Akunyili Crosby has won the Smithsonian’s James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize. The $25,000 award was established in 2001 and previous winners include Pierre Huyghe, Mark Dion, Jessica Stockholder, Andrea Zittel, Kara Walker, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Jorge Pardo.
Akunyili Crosby was picked from a shortlist by a jury that included Thelma Golden, Studio Museum director; Harry Philbrick, director of the Museum at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; artists Walter Robinson and Byron Kim; and Sheena Wagstaff, the chairman of modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The other nominees this year were Cory Arcangel, Trisha Baga, Paul Chan, Barnaby Furnas, Theaster Gates, KAWS, Josiah McElheny, Dave McKenzie, Julie Mehretu, Frances Stark, Swoon, and Mickalene Thomas. The news was noted in a press release from London’s Victoria Miro gallery which also announced the gallery’s representation of the artist and her participation in the New Museum’s Triennial.
26 November 2014
