The American artists Jennie C. Jones and Gala Porras-Kim were revealed as the winners of this year’s Heinz Awards for the Arts on Tuesday (17 September). The awards, bestowed by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation since 1993, come with an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000 for each artist. The awards are named for the late US Senator John Heinz and honour individuals working in the arts, economy and environment. A ceremony honouring this year’s winners in all three categories will be held in Pittsburgh next month.
The two artist honourees are known and widely celebrated for their conceptually rigorous practices, though the similarities between their works mostly end there.
Jones has introduced new textures and tones to the legacies of Minimalism and hard-edged abstraction through her work with sound art, music and painting on acoustic panels. Her major solo shows—including, in 2022, Dynamics at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the first solo show by a Black woman in its famous rotunda—often incorporate sonic elements, musical compositions or customised musical instruments. Next summer, her rooftop commission at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will feature a group of sculptures that also function as instruments.
“Jennie’s work defies established genres, interlacing elements of sound, space, colour and objects in ways that are profoundly moving,” Teresa Heinz, the Heinz Family Foundation’s chairman, said in a statement. “Her layered works are immersive, inviting us to reflect and ponder while experiencing moments of subtle beauty and meaning.”
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