Ogden Museum of Southern Art announced today the winners of the 2020 edition of Louisiana Contemporary, presented by The Helis Foundation, on view at Ogden Museum September 5, 2020 – February 7, 2021. Louisiana Contemporary is the Museum’s annual juried exhibition, and this year features 55 works by 56 Louisiana artists from a total of 1,388 works submitted by 363 artists.
The 2020 guest juror, René Morales, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), announced the following awards:
The Helis Foundation Art Prize for Best in Show: Wendo Brunoir Appropriation of a Masterpiece, Spray paint on laser cut wood on birch panel Don’t Catch You Slippin’ Up, Acrylic and spray paint on laser cut wood mounted to panel
First Place: Nic Brierre Aziz Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy (White Barbies), Video
Second Place: Luis Cruz Azaceta CRISIS 3, Acrylic on canvas
Third place: Ann Perich determination or distrust, Archival pigment print
With support from The Helis Foundation, Ogden Museum honors these four artists who highlight some of the most provocative and compelling works in the exhibition. The four awards come with cash prizes and special recognition at the Museum. Wendo Brunoir, the recipient of the lead award, The Helis Foundation Art Prize, will receive the unrestricted amount of $5,000.
For the 2020 edition, Morales was attuned to artists and artworks that are actively engaging with this particular moment in American history, through different media and stylistic and technical approaches.
“I felt immeasurably honored to have been invited to jury the prestigious Louisiana Contemporary in this year of years,” says Morales. “Beyond purely aesthetic criteria, many of the selected works seem to have deeply absorbed the power and intensity of the current moment, while providing insight into Louisiana’s incredibly rich, multifaceted culture. Through this combination, a lucid picture emerges of how this exceedingly unique context has experienced the tragedies and turmoil that have accompanied the pandemic, and how profoundly and passionately it has internalized the struggle for justice and reform. As a whole, the works embody art’s unique ability to help us understand and process realities that we might otherwise be unable to grasp, much less express and discuss in a constructive manner.”
“Since its launch in 2012, Louisiana Contemporary has presented 729 works by 450 artists, and has provided an important platform for experiencing the depth and diversity of work being produced by Louisiana artists,” says William Pittman Andrews, Executive Director of Ogden Museum. “We are continuously inspired by the visions and innovations of the featured artists, whose work engages with formal and conceptual dialogues within contemporary practice, as well as with some of the most pressing social and political issues of our time. We are grateful to The Helis Foundation for their ongoing support for this initiative and to the artists who continue to challenge and compel us in new and exciting ways.” In addition to René Morales, prior jurors have included David Breslin, Director of Curatorial Initiatives at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Courtney J. Martin, Director of the Yale Center for British Art and former Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Dia Art Foundation; Shantrelle P. Lewis, an independent curator, author, and documentarian; and Bill Arning, former Director of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
About Nic Brierre Aziz Nic Brierre Aziz is an American-Haitian interdisciplinary artist and curator born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. His current practice is deeply community focused and rooted around the utilization of personal and collective histories to reimagine the future. He has worked extensively leading community engaged projects throughout New Orleans, with entities such as the Office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Antenna, The Joan Mitchell Center, YAYA, the Arts Council of New Orleans and Prospect. In addition to his personal artistic practice, he currently serves as the Community Engagement Curator for the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has contributed to publications such as HuffPost, Burnaway and AFROPUNK, and his work has been featured by The Oxford American, The Associated Press and The Alternative UK. He is a recipient of several notable artist residencies and fellowships and most recently was selected as a 2020 Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellow. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College and a Master of Science degree from The University of Manchester (UK).