2019 Best in Show and Winner of The Helis Foundation Art Prize: Jessica Strahan, Survived, 2019, Acrylic, oil, handmade paper, 24″ x 24″, Collection of the artist
For the last eight years, Louisiana Contemporary, presented by The Helis Foundation has served as a vehicle for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art to highlight Louisiana’s contemporary art culture.
This year’s Juror will be René Morales, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami. René Morales will curate a selection of works submitted by Louisiana artists, and then choose four award winners to receive further recognition.
“I am thrilled and honored to have been invited by the Ogden Museum to serve as juror for the 2020 Louisiana Contemporary,” says René Morales, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami. “I look forward to the experience of being immersed in Louisiana’s rich and unique artistic culture.”
The annual juried art competition is open to all artists 18 years and older residing in the state of Louisiana. All work must be original and completed within the last two years (2018-2020).
The 2020 online submission webpage will open on April 8, 2020. The deadline is Friday, May 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. All mailed submissions must be postmarked by Friday, May 29, 2020. Louisiana Contemporary, Presented by The Helis Foundation will open on Saturday, August 1 during Whitney White Linen Night, an annual event in the Arts District of New Orleans. Cash awards will be presented to first, second and third prize, in addition to the Best in Show recipient who will receive The Helis Foundation Art Prize of $5,000.
Contact Amy Newell at anewell@ogdenmuseum.org for questions regarding your submission. Check out the Louisiana Contemporary 2020 submission page for detailed requirements!
ABOUT THE JUROR:
René Morales is Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Morales has organized over 50 exhibitions for PAMM, including Meleko Mokgosi: Your Trip to Africa; Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM’s Fund for African American Art; Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Surrounded Islands, 1980–1983; Dara Friedman: Perfect Stranger; A Human Document: Selections from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry; and Amelia Peláez: The Craft of Modernity. He has spearheaded the acquisition of hundreds of works for PAMM’s collection, and he played a pivotal role in PAMM’s transition into its Herzog and de Meuron-designed facility, which opened to the public in 2013. Prior to joining PAMM, he worked at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, where he organized and co-organized several exhibitions, including Island Nations: New Art from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Morales is a recipient of the 2019 Center for Curatorial Leadership Fellowship, as well as a 2019 Suncoast Emmy Award, which he received for producing the film Remembering Surrounded Islands. Morales teaches museum history and curatorial practice as Adjunct Professor at Florida International University, and he sits on several local and national boards and committees, including the Board of the City of Miami Art in Public Places program. Born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, René received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his M.A. in Art History from Brown University.