2021 Awardees
The theme for the inaugural Gold Art Prize was: The Future. Our focus is on contemporary emerging or mid-career artists for whom the exposure and cash prize would make a significant impact at this moment in their career. The artists must have had a solo exhibition or project at an arts institution (i.e. museum, collecting or non-collecting). It was also important to us that our awardees reflect diversity in practice, gender, ethnicity, and other critical identities that represent the vast API diaspora.
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We are very proud to present the five 2021 awardees: Jes Fan, Maia Ruth Lee, Candice Lin, Moved by the Motion and Miljohn Ruperto. These artists, whose conceptually-driven practices span video, sculpture, performance and installation, center questions of identity and histories. They were selected through a rigorous process involving our outstanding nomination and selection committees.
2021 Finalists
Jaishri Abichandani, Kelly Akashi, Patty Chang, Tiffany Chung, Daniel Chew, Jesse Chun, Shaghayegh Cyrous, Chaw Ei Thein, Brendan Fernandes, Chitra Ganesh, Oto Gillen, Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Glenn Kaino, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, Josh Kline, Maggie Lee, Summer Meiling Lee, Beili Liu, Michelle Lopez, Shahryar Nashat, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Jade Kuriki Olivo, Aki Sasamoto, Sin Wai Kin, Kenneth Tam, Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Cici Wu
2021 Nominating 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 Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art
Sohrab Mohebbi
Curator of the Carnegie International’s 58th edition
Daisy Nam
Director, Ballroom Marfa
Anuradha Vikram
Independent writer, curator and educator based in Los Angeles
X Zhu-Nowell
Assistant Curator, Guggenheim
2021 Selection Committee
Angelo Chan
Asian Art Circle and Collection’s Council, 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, SFMOMA
Akiko Yamazaki
Chair of the Board, Asian Art Museum
Lead underwriting support for the 2021 Gold Art Prize was generously provided by Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard, Heather and Eric Green, Puja and Samir Kaul, 100 Tonson Foundation, and Sonya Yu. Underwriting for the catalogue was provided by Tanatip Arunanondchai, Angelo Chan, Harry Hu, Miyoung Lee, and Jenny and Gerald Risk.