In its 2020 cycle, the Arts Writers Grant has awarded a total of $675,000 to 21 writers. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 in three categories—articles, books and short-form writing— these grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences, from short reviews for magazines and newspapers to in-depth scholarly studies.

“Art writing that is incisive and attuned to the cultural moment positions artists as key contributors to urgent conversations in and beyond the art world. Through their rigorous and generous engagement with artists and art works, their close reading of historical and cultural contexts, and their creative juxtaposition of disparate practices, arts writers illuminate the unique way art engages with and explicates our idea of a national consciousness,” states Joel Wachs, President of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. “Not only does the Arts Writers Grant recognize and support excellence in the field of arts writing, it helps to fortify the visual arts writ large, bringing artistic intelligence to bear on contemporary social, political and cultural debates.”

“Today’s politically charged moment is palpable in the work of the writers selected to receive grants this year,” says Program Director, Pradeep Dalal. “This year’s grantees will write about lesser known and overlooked figures like Patssi Valdez before, during, and after her participation in the Chicano art collective ASCO, and Kynaston McShine, the legendary Trinidadian curator at MoMA. The ethics of photography are probed by several writers, including Naeem Mohaiemen and Anjali Singh, whose book project focuses on the images taken by an embedded war photographer Harmit Singh during the violent partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ariel Goldberg‘s book on the ethics of trans and queer image cultures mines grassroots exhibitions, photography workshops, and self-published books to understand community- focused artmaking. Sergio Delgado Moya‘s book considers sensationalism as a form of violence, and how crime tabloids are used by the artists Beatriz Gonzalez and Catalina Parra. Jessica Lynne will write about the intergenerational histories of Black women artists in the South such as Samella Lewis and Allison Janae Hamilton. Amy Taubin probes the ‘time machine of cinema available on our home screens’ and will write essays on Garrett Bradley, Arthur Jafa, and Peggy Ahwesh. Monica Uszerowicz will write about Floridian and Caribbean artists who are involved with local ecological activism such as Amara Abdal Figueroa’s Tierrafiltra, the work of Coral Morphologic, and the collective Poncili Creación. Joseph L. Underwood unspools power differentials in art’s transnational framework by analyzing the impact of a single exhibition of Senegalese art as it travelled to 15 countries including Tokyo, Mexico City, and Quebec in the 70s and 80s. These are just a few examples of this year’s remarkable group of writers. We are delighted to say the program now has provided support to over 310 arts writers, with funds totaling almost $9.3 million.”

Articles
Angie Baecker—“The Art Group and the Avant Garde: Collective Practices and the Socialist Legacy in Contemporary China”
Cecilia Fajardo-Hill—“Patssi Valdez: ‘I dare you question me,’ A Radical Photographic Portraiture”
Erica Moiah James—“Juan Francisco Elso: La luz de las cosas / The Light of Things”
Arnold Joseph Kemp—“Who is this black, queer curator? If you don’t remember it and do him, his last name is McShine”
Oluremi C. Onabanjo—“The Conditions of the Archive: Marilyn Nance and FESTAC 77″

Books
Sergio Delgado Moya—A Nervous Archive: Sensationalism and the Potency of Horror
Ariel Goldberg—Just Captions: Ethics of Trans and Queer Image Cultures
Naeem Mohaiemen & Anjali Singh—Harmit Singh’s War
Jerry Philogene—The Socially Dead and Improbably Citizen: Visualizing Haitian Liberation
Jeannine Tang—Living Legends: The Art and Care of Queer and Transgender History
Joseph L. Underwood—Forging a New Contemporary: Art from Senegal in Transnational Networks, 1974-1984

Short-Form Writing
Ratik Asokan
Jessica Baran
Barbara Calderón
Dan Fox
Bean Gilsdorf
Colony Little
Jessica Lynne
Lauren O’Neill-Butler
Amy Taubin
Monica Uszerowicz

Art Writing Workshop
The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant is pleased to continue its partnership with AICA (the International Association of Art Critics, USA section) to give practicing writers the opportunity to strengthen their work through one-on-one consultations with leading art critics. For a list of the ten 2020 Art Writing Workshop participants, see the Arts Writers website.

ABOUT THE ARTS WRITERS GRANT
The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant was founded in recognition of both the financially precarious situation of arts writers and their indispensable contribution to a vital artistic culture. The program is administered by Creative Capital.

For updates on events and publications by Arts Writers grantees, follow them on their Twitter account @artswriters.