Six out of the ten nominees for the 2024 prize are based in Miami, down from last year's seven but still giving the Magic City a majority. They are, in alphabetical order: Yanira Collado (@yanira_collado), Bernadette Despujols (@bernadettedespujols), Francisco Lo Castro (@locastro), Carol Prusa (@prusacarol), Jason Seife (@jasonseife), and Onadije Shabaka (@onajide).
The other four nominees come from Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tallahassee. All ten nominees work in various mediums, from painting and photography to sculpture and metalpoint, and all will compete for the $20,000 prize.
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the prize, according to OMA, which is also celebrating its centennial.
The museum will show work from all ten nominees in an exhibition that debuts on June 1. The prize winner will be announced at a preview party the night before on May 31. Event attendees can vote for their favorite artist to win the $2,500 "People's Choice" award.
Last year's Florida Prize went to Gulfport-based artist Akiko Kotani despite stiff competition from a strong field that included Reginald O'Neal and Cara Despain. Miami's previous winner was Jared McGriff in 2022.
If we had to pick a frontrunner for this year's prize, it would probably be Jason Seife, our pick for Best Visual Artist in Miami last year. The Miami-born-and-raised artist delved into his Syrian heritage for his Pérez Art Museum Miami show "Coming to Fruition," creating intricately detailed paintings on concrete slabs resembling weathered oriental carpets. Carolina del Busto wrote of the show, which we named one of the best art exhibitions of 2023, "Seife's work demands your attention. Incredible detail is woven into every corner of the concrete slabs and canvas on the museum walls. Part of the beauty of the work is the aged look of the pieces that appear as if they were archeological relics."
The other Miami-based nominees have also produced impressive recent work. Francesco Lo Castro's immersive, room-size installation of biomorphic art deco-inspired sculptures wowed at last year's South Florida Cultural Consortium show at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami. Yanira Collado recently debuted a pinwheel-themed installation at the same museum earlier this year. Venezuela native Bernadette Despujols showed candid figurative paintings of domestic scenes at Spinello Projects in 2022. Carol Prusa creates intricate designs using metalpoint, and her work has been collected by the PAMM as well as New York's Museum of Art and Design. Onajide Shakaba, an Oolite Arts resident with a "walking-based practice," has shown at Emerson Dorsch and other sites around Miami.
OMA is putting on the award despite the continued fallout from its recent Jean-Michel Basquiat forgery scandal, in which a former director organized a show of "rediscovered" paintings by the late artist that were later revealed to be fake. The ensuing legal battles have reportedly left the institution desperate for funds, and the museum recently dropped its legal claims against the group accused of the alleged fraud due to accruing litigation costs.
Tickets for the Florida Prize preview party in Orlando are currently on sale via eventbrite.com.
Below is the complete list of nominees:
- Mona Bozorgi (Tallahassee/Photography)
- Yanira Collado (Miami/Textiles)
- Bernadette Despujols (Miami/Painting, Sculpture)
- Sheila Goloborotko (Jacksonville/Multidisciplinary)
- Njeri Kinuthia (Orlando/Multidisciplinary)
- Boy Kong (Orlando/Painting, Muralist)
- Francesco Lo Castro (Miami/Painting, Sculpture)
- Carol Prusa (Miami/Metalpoint)
- Jason Seife (Miami/Painting)
- Onajide Shabaka (Miami/Photography, Mixed-media)
