Gold Art Prize Will Award $25,000 to Five AAPI Artists

American non-profit Gold House and art consultant Kelly Huang today announced a new prize for Asian American and Pacific Island (AAPI) artists.

The biennial Gold Art Prize will be awarded to five artists, each of whom will receive U.S. $25,000, mentorship, and exposure through a mini documentary series and the publication of a catalogue.

The inaugural prize nominees include Patty Chang, Chaw Ei Thein, Candice Lin, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and Cindy Ji Hye Kim.

‘Our goal is to celebrate this next generation of AAPI and Asian diaspora artists on a broad scale to create meaningful opportunities for recognition, invite critical study, and build a more inclusive canon,’ Huang said.

Asians make up about seven percent of the U.S. population, but less than two percent of museum trustees identify as Asian, according to the American Alliance of Museums.

‘We are especially proud that the award is being given by leading curators, creatives, and changemakers coming together to ensure we won’t be overlooked again,’ Huang said.

The Gold Art Prize’s nomination committee includes directors and curators at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and other leading art institutions.

The winners of the prize will be chosen by a separate selection committee, comprising a mixture of arts professionals and creative practitioners such as fashion designer Phillip Lim, author Cathy Park Hong, and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi. Winners will be announced in December.

The Sovereign Art Foundation, which awards its own prestigious prize to Asian artists, also announced a new prize this week in collaboration with the Norval Foundation. The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize will award 500,000 South African Rand (U.S. $34,000) to an artist from Africa and the African Diaspora. The winner will be announced in February 2022.

The full list of nominees for the Gold Art Prize, as well as members of the nomination and selection committees, follows below. —[O]

Gold Art Prize Nominees

Jaishri Abichandani
Kelly Akashi
Patty Chang
Tiffany Chung
Daniel Chew
Jesse Chun
Shaghayegh Cyrous
Chaw Ei Thein
Jes Fan
Brendan Fernandes
Chitra Ganesh
Oto Gillen
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork
Glenn Kaino
Cindy Ji Hye Kim
Josh Kline
Maggie Lee
Maia Ruth Lee
Summer Meiling Lee
Candice Lin
Beili Liu
Michelle Lopez
Moved by the Motion
Shahryar Nashat
Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki Olivo)
Miljohn Ruperto
Aki Sasamoto
Sin Wai Kin
Kenneth Tam
Evelyn Taocheng Wang
Cici Wu

Gold Art Prize Nomination Committee

Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander — Assistant Curator of American Art at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and Co-Director of the Asian American Art Initiative
Abby Chen — Head of Contemporary Art, Asian Art Museum
Christine Y. Kim — Curator of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Christopher Y. Lew — Nancy and Fred Poses Associate Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art
Sohrab Mohebbi — Curator of the Carnegie International’s 58th edition
Daisy Nam — Director, Ballroom Marfa
Anurahda Vikram — Independent writer, curator and educator based in Los Angeles
X Zhu—Nowell — Assistant Curator, Guggenheim

Gold Art Prize Selection Committee

Angelo Chan — Asian Art Circle and Collection’s Council, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Gemma Chan — Actress, Producer, Activist
Lorin Gu — Founder, Recharge Foundation
Prabal Gurung — Fashion Designer, Prabal Gurung
Cathy Park Hong — New York Times bestselling author
Padma Lakshmi — Author, Host, & Executive Producer
Miyoung Lee — Vice Chair, Board of the Whitney Museum of American Art
Dennis Lim — Director of Programming, The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Phillip Lim — Fashion Designer, 3.1 Phillip Lim
Komal Shah — Board of Trustees Member, SFMOMA
Akiko Yamazaki — Chair of the Board, Asian Art Museum

Main image: Gold House president Bing Chen and art consultant Kelly Huang. Courtesy Gold House.