FAD Magazine

FAD Magazine covers contemporary art – News, Exhibitions and Interviews reported on from London

New York-based artist Precious Okoyomon wins the Frieze Artist Award 2021

Precious Okoyomon Photo: Sam Penn

New York-based artist Precious Okoyomon is the winner of the 2021 Frieze  Artist Award. Supported by the Luma Foundation, the award presents a major opportunity for an emerging artist to debut an ambitious new commission at Frieze New York. Launched in 2018, the initiative furthers the established program of Artist Award commissions at Frieze London. Previous recipients of the award at Frieze  New York include Lauren Halsey and Kapwani Kiwanga. 

This year, Frieze New York will take place for the first time at The Shed in Manhattan, from May 5 – 9, 2021.  The fair is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank, continuing a shared commitment to artistic  excellence.  

Okoyomon’s commission was selected by a jury chaired by Jenny Schlenzka (Executive Artistic Director  at Performance Space New York), and featuring Ralph Lemon (Artistic Director, Cross Performance),  Vassilis Oikonomopoulos (Senior Curator, Luma Arles), and Stuart Comer (Chief Curator of Media and  Performance Art, MOMA).

‘In recent years, the Frieze Artist Award in New York and Luma Foundation have debuted significant large scale sculptures by leading international artists. In 2021, we could not be more excited to work with an  exceptional New Yorker, Precious Okoyomon on realizing their live project in collaboration with The Shed.  It has been hugely beneficial to work with Jenny Schlenzka of Performance Space, a leading institution moving  boundaries in New York, and our expert jury who are the world’s tastemakers in performance art amongst  much more.’ 

Loring Randolph, Director of Programming for Frieze New York

For Frieze New York 2021, Okoyomon will present a performance-activated installation conceived specifically  for The Shed. Extending their practice, Okoyomon’s work will aim to create what the artist describes as ‘a  portal for a space of fragilization.’ Convening poetry, sensory elements, sculpture, light, and sound, the work  will celebrate self-expression and champion the value of shared, collective experience. The performance will  be filmed and streamed online at Frieze.com from May 5 onwards, allowing audiences across the globe to  engage with the project. 

The Frieze New York commission will coincide with Okoyomon’s exhibition, FRAGMENTED BODY  PERCEPTIONS AS HIGHER VIBRATION FREQUENCIES TO GOD, an installation that uses Kudzu ash,  water, algae, moss, stone to transform Performance Space New York into a site for grief, mourning,  and catharsis, from March 20 through to May 9, 2021. In addition, they will debut a major commission  at The Aspen Art Museum (AAM), from June 10, 2021 through to October 16, 2022. 

About the Artist

Precious Okoyomon is a poet, chef and artist living in New York City. They make portals into new worlds.  Okoyomon has had institutional solo exhibitions at the Luma Westbau in Zurich (2018), and at the MMK  in Frankfurt (2020), major performances commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries, London (2019) and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2019), and was an artist-in-residence at Luma Arles (2020).  Okoyomon’s second book, But Did U Die?, is forthcoming from The Serpentine Galleries/Wonder Press in 2021. 

Categories

Tags

Related Posts

FAD MAGAZINE Konstantin Grcic Paramount: Architecture for a Toy Poodle, 2012 Photo credit: Joel Fildes

do it- let art expand your horizons- do something.

Four international partners, the Serpentine Galleries in London, Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York, Kaldor Public Art Projects in Sydney and Google Arts & Culture team up to connect people across the globe via instructions for DIY artworks.

Trending Articles

Join the FAD newsletter and get the latest news and articles straight to your inbox

* indicates required