THE GLOBAL FINE ART AWARDS ANNOUNCES THE 5TH ANNUAL AWARD CEREMONY AND GALA

The Global Fine Art Awards announces the 5^th Annual Award Ceremony and Gala

Announcing 5th Annual GFAA Awards press release (download PDF)

New York, NY January 9, 2019

On Tuesday, March 12, 2019, the Global Fine Art Awards (GFAA) will celebrate art and culture by honoring this year’s 94 nominees and crowning the 15 award winners at the 5th Annual Award Ceremony and Gala.

The black-tie gala will take place at the Harold Pratt House, a historic New York mansion.  The event will be hosted by the American Alliance of Museum’s Dean Phelus, as well as GFAA Founder and President, Judy Holm and the GFAA Advisory Board. Peter Trippi, a member of the GFAA Executive Committee and Judge Emeritus, will join as the Master of Ceremonies. Trippi is editor-in-chief of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.

Phelus, a five-year tenured GFAA Judge, states, “the GFAA nominees demonstrate the universal power of art to facilitate a sense of individual and collective identity, enlighten through knowledge and nurture an understanding of our connections to the world and to each other.”

GFAA Judges have selected 13 winners to be revealed during the award ceremony – one in each of the following categories: Contemporary and Post-War – solo artist; Contemporary and Post-War – group or theme; Impressionist and Modern – solo artist; Impressionist and Modern- group or theme; Renaissance, Baroque, Old Masters and Dynasties – solo artist; Renaissance, Baroque, Old Masters and Dynasties  – group or theme; Ancient Art; Photography; Design; Fringe; Public Art; Global Planet and Global Humanity (the new awards that premiered last year); and Youniversal and YOU-2, which are given to the most popular nominees and are selected by public voting on the GFAA website and social media.

In continuing GFAA’s recognition of social issues addressed by many artists and institutions, GFAA premiers a new award category this year called Global Artists. This category distinguishes the lifetime body of work of the nominated artists. The new award is juried but will not designate a single winner.

The event, which is open to the public, will be attended by many of the nominees, as well as benefactors, patrons, corporate sponsors, collectors, gallerists and art aficionados. Many prominent guests including GFAA nominees and other VIPs have already confirmed their attendance at the Award Ceremony: nominated artist Jenny Holzer and Michael Frahm, artistic director of Blenheim Palace Art Foundation; Tim Marlow, artistic director of London’s Royal Academy of Art; Joan Weinstein, acting director of the Getty Foundation; Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum; nominated artist Fred Wilson; Douglas Baxter, president of PACE; nominated artist Rodney McMillian; Louis Grachos, executive director and CEO of The Contemporary Austin; Vicente Todoli, artistic director of the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca; Ruth Berson, deputy museum director of Curatorial Affairs at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Sarah Beam-Borg, senior exhibitions manager of the Aga Khan Museum; Konstantin Akinsha, chief curator of the Ludwig Museum, Hungary; Lilly Tuttle, curator at Museum of the City of New York; Eva Respini, chief curator of ICA Boston; Jay Levenson, director of International Program at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jennie Goldstein, assistant curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art; G. Martin Moeller, Jr., senior curator of the National Building Museum, Washington D.C.; senior directors and curators from the Solomon R. Guggenheim, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and executives from the American Alliance of Museums and other GFAA Partners.

The GFAA program highlights the link between artists and their creations, the galleries that represent them, curated shows from the gallery, public art and museum worlds. This year, eleven galleries exhibiting at the Armory Show, a cultural collaborator of GFAA, represent more than twenty-four 2018 GFAA Nominees including:

• Jenny Holzer, Lucio Fontana, Adrian Piper, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anni Albers, Fred Wilson, Olafur Eliasson, Alfredo Jaar, Christian Boltanski, David Goldblatt,  Keith Haring, Pablo Picasso, Georg Baselitz, Jasper John, John Akomfrah, Lucien Freud, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Rene Magritte, Hassan Sharif, Joan Jonas, Danh Vo, Doris Salcedo, David Goldblatt

Geographic, scale, ethnic and gender diversity are essential in the GFAA research and nominating process.

• 94 nominees this year represent works in six continents, 31 countries and 49 cities – featuring many new artists, initiatives and countries- including Estonia, Hungary, Turkey and Chile.
• 22 of this year’s nominees (23%) are in or aboutthe art and artists of Asia, Africa and the Middle Eastern.
• 15 of this year’s nominees (16%) feature Latin American artists, in six Latin American countries and in diaspora.
• In one of the highest profile categories – Best Contemporary and Post-War Art, 30% of the Nominees are women.
• Less than half of the GFAA nominees exhibited in the top 100 art museums visited in the world (The Art Newspaper,April 2017), whereas the majority emanate from smaller institutions and other venues.

About the GFAA Program

Launched in 2014 by Judy Holm, The Global Fine Art Awards (GFAA) are the first annual awards ever created to recognize the best curated art and design exhibitions and installations worldwide. The GFAA program honors innovation and excellence in exhibition design, historical context, educational value and public appeal. The program’s mission is to develop interest and passion for fine art, and further its educational role in society. GFAA endeavors to be the premier global art and design award program and to elevate the importance of fine art in the world today.

The GFAA judging, research and nominating processes

Throughout the year, GFFA’s Art Research Committee searches to identify the best exhibitions and installations across the globe. A broad set of criteria is utilized to research and assess the prospective nominees, with continuous review of over 50 sources of print and online art editorial and critiques. Through these sources and personalized assessments based on exhibition viewing, more than 200 museums and 2,000 exhibitions are vetted during the annual research. In addition to the research-based nominations, GFAA accepts open calls from museums, biennials, fairs, galleries and other art organizations. Individual patrons may nominate their favorite exhibitions as well.

The Nominating Committee reviews the slate prepared by the Art Research Committee and presents their findings and final approvals to the judges. The judges modify and select the final slate of nominees, then vote on the finalists and winners.

The timeframe for eligibility this year was for exhibitions and installations opening between Aug 1, 2017 and Jul 31, 2018. The basic criteria for eligibility in the juried awards is that the nominated exhibit or installation must be curated.

Another integral aspect of the GFAA program is to engage the general public and include their voice in the program results. Public voting takes place online from Jan 14 to 27, 2019 and the most popular exhibition wins the Youniversal Award.  The second public award, YOU-2, is selected from twitter votes.

GFAA Team

Founder and President, Judy Holm, and more than 30 dedicated professionals with extensive experience in art, academia, technology and business are committed to the future of the Global Fine Art Awards program and its mission. They represent a truly global perspective, with nationalities from 21 countries and 4 continents.

GFAA Judges

• Savita Apte, art historian and lecturer specializing in Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art
• James M. Bradburne, director general of the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Biblioteca Braidense, Milan
• Gina Costa, art historian and curator, previously at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Art Institute of Chicago
• Joe Lin-Hill, deputy director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery
• Dean Phelus, American Alliance of Museum’ssenior director of Leadership Programs

GFAA Research and Nominating Committee

• Research Chair Kimberly Lin– BA in Art History in modern and contemporary art, UC Berkeley; degree in fashion design, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising; Post War Contemporary Art program, Sotheby’s London
• Nominating Committee Chair Betsie Piussan– MBA from NYU; BA Stanford University, studied at l’Université de Paris and l’Ecole du Louvre, design certificate NY School of Interior Design
• Peter Trippi– Editor-in-Chief, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine; GFAA Judge Emeritus
• Salwa Mikdadi– associate professor of Art History, NYU Abu Dhabi
• Patricia Lannes– founder of Cultures & Literacies through Art for the 21st Century; Chair Global Latino Network AAM
• Renee Farina– Biennale di Firenze (Florence) International Selection Committee; gallery owner; formerly of Christie’s Masters, Modern and Contemporary Departments, NYC, former GFAA research committee chair

GFAA 5^th Annual Award Ceremony Sponsors

Benefactor Event Sponsor: Leila Heller Gallery

Copperfield Advisory, Ironhorse Vineyards, Eli Klein Gallery, PACE Gallery, Park Avenue Catering  Sullivan Media Group | SMG Marketing  

GFAA Cultural Collaborators & Media Partners

ART MEDIA Holdings (Art in America, ARTnews Magazine, The Magazine ANTIQUES and MODERN), The Armory Show, Alserkal Avenue (Dubai), American Alliance of Museums (AAM), Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), De la Cruz Collection (Miami), DSL Collection (Paris), Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery, Family Office Elite magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, Fractured Atlas, Galerie Lelong & Co., Gladstone Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Leighton House Museum (London), Leila Heller Gallery (New York and Dubai), Mapme, Marlborough Gallery, Masterpiece London, National Arts Club, Onassis Foundation USA, Traveling Exhibits Network, Vastari, White Rabbit Collection (Sydney)

Media inquiries:

Copperfield Advisory – USA                                                                                                      

andrewn@copperfield.nyc

Carolyn Cruz – International

carolyn.cruz@gmail.com

globalfineartawards@gmail.com

globalfineartawards.org

GFAA is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purpose of GFAA must be payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity, provides a fiscal sponsorship program to help arts organizations raise money from charitable sources.

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