ARTnews in Brief: Magdalena Campos-Pons Awarded Pérez Prize—and More from April 19, 2021

Monday, April 19
Magdalena Campos-Pons Awarded Pérez PrizeThe Pérez Art Museum Miami has awarded Cuban artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons its third annual Pérez Prize, which carries an unrestricted $50,000 award. A descendant of Nigerians who were brought to Cuba as slaves during the 19th century, Campos-Pons’s work centers themes at the intersection of race, religion, gender, and shared histories. Her practice spans photography, painting, sculpture, film, video, and performance. Campos-Pons most recently spearheaded When We Gather, a multi-part project by seven women artists of color responding to the historic election of Kamala Harris as the first woman of color to be Vice President. Inspired by the Yoruba religious rituals of her childhood, the work captures the artist’s interest in the traditions and rituals of her ancestors.

American Folk Art Museum Receives Gift of Portraits The American Folk Art Museum in New York has received a promised gift of two portraits by John Brewster Jr. from trustee Karin Barter Fielding and her husband, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, in honor of AFAM’s 60th anniversary. Brewster, a deaf itinerant painter, captured scenes from America in a style that became widely adopted in New England. The portraits depict Deacon Benjamin Titcomb and his Wife Ann Pearson Titcomb, residents of Maine. These are the first portraits by Brewster to enter the museum’s collection, following the solo exhibition of the artist, “A Deaf Artist in Early America: The Worlds of John Brewster Jr.”

John Brewster, Jr., a portrait of Ann Pearson Titcomb, ca. 1798, oil on canvas.
Courtesy American Folk Art Museum

Company Gallery Will Move to New Space This FallCompany Gallery in New York will move to a new space at 356 Broome Street in September. The new gallery will open with an exhibition of work by the late filmmaker and artist Barbara Hammer curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden, who appeared on ARTnews‘s 2021 Deciders list.
Labor Board Sides with Portland Museum in Union ProceedingsThe National Labor Relations Board has said that members of the security department at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine counted as security workers and therefore were ineligible to join a proposed union at the the institution. A vote on unionization had been set for December, but it was delayed after the museum claimed that some workers who had taken part in unionization efforts could be considered ineligible. Votes cast by eligible employees in December will now be counted.

Taymour Grahne Projects to Open Second London SpaceThe London-based gallery Taymour Grahne Projects, which focuses on emerging, mid-career, and historically overlooked artists, will open a second space in the British capital in May. Located in Notting Hill, the two-floor space is a 15-minute walk away from the gallery’s first location, which opened in September. The inaugural exhibition at the new space will showcase work by London-based artist Evie O’Connor.

Source link