The U.S. chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA) has announced its annual best show awards. Twenty-four winners and runners-up in 12 categories are recognized from among more than 130 finalists proposed by AICA-USA’s 400 members.
Among the recipients are two shows featured in Art in America‘s March issue: museum exhibitions devoted to Jay DeFeo and Ken Price. The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, at the center of controversy over its finances and possible mergers, wins a prize for its show “Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962.” Both awards for best project in a public space go to the Park Avenue Armory.
A special award goes to the Getty for its “Pacific Standard Time” exhibitions.
The winners are:
Best project in a public space
1. “Ann Hamilton: The Event of a Thread,” Park Avenue Armory, New York.
2. “Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Murder of Crows,” Park Avenue Armory, New York.
Best show in a non-profit gallery or alternative space
1. “Mike Kelley: 1954-2012,” Watermill Center, Water Mill, N.Y.. Harald Falckenberg, curator.
2. “Nayland Blake: FREE! LOVE! TOOL! BOX!,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Betti-Sue Hertz, curator.
Best show in a university gallery
1. “Société Anonyme: Modernism for America,” Yale University Art Gallery. Jennifer Gross, curator.
2. “Toxic Beauty: The Art of Frank Moore,” Grey Art Gallery, New York University. Susan Harris and Lynn Gumpert, curators.
Best architecture or design show
1. “California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way,” Los Angeles County Museum of Arts and Design. Wendy Kaplan and Bobbye Tigerman, curators.
2. The Art of Scent: 1889-2012, Museum of Art and Design, New York, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Chandler Burr, curator.
Best digital, film performance or video exhibition
1. “Jack Smith: Normal Love,” MOMA PS1. Christopher Y. Lew, curator.
2. “Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets,” Museum of Modern Art, New York. Ron Magliozzi, curator.
Best show in a commercial gallery in New York
1. “Happenings: New York, 1958-1963,” Pace Gallery. Milly Glimcher, curator.
2. “Georges Braque, Pioneer of Modernism,” Acquavella Galleries.
Best show in a commercial gallery nationally
1. “Photography Into Sculpture/The Evolving Photographic Object,” Cherry& Martin, L.A.. Based on an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, 1970, organized by Peter Bunnell.
2. “Requiem for the Sun: The Art of Mono-ha,” Blum & Poe, Los Angeles. Mika Yoshitake, curator.
Best monographic museum show in New York
1. “deKooning: A Retrospective,” Museum of Modern Art. John Elderfield, curator.
2. “Matisse: In Search of True Painting-An Exploration of Matisse’s Painting Process,” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rebecca Rabinow, curator.
Best monographic museum show nationally
1. “Jay De Feo: A Retrospective,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dana Miller, curator.
2. “Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Stephanie Barron, curator.
Best thematic museum show in New York
1. “Materializing ‘Six Years’: Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art”. Organized by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum; Catherine Morris and Vincent Bonin, curators.
2. “Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop,” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mia Fineman, curator.
Best thematic museum show nationally
1. “Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980,” Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and MoMA PS1, New York. Kellie Jones, curator.
2. “Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Paul Schimmel, curator.
Best historical museum show nationally
1. “Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925,” Museum of Modern Art. Leah Dickerman, curator, with Masha Chlenova, curatorial assistant.
2. “The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini,” co-organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Keith Christiansen & Stefan Weppelmann, curators.
PHOTO: Installation view of “Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
