Raúl de Nieves
Passage 14
2022
Found fabric, beads, ribbons, glue, glitter and buttons on cotton-blend paper
32" x 21.25"

STUDENT VISIONARY AWARD

Raúl de Nieves is a multimedia artist, performer and musician whose wide-ranging practice investigates notions of beauty and transformation. His visual symbolism draws on both classical Catholic and Mexican motifs to create his own mythology. Through processes of accumulation and adornment, he transforms readily available materials into spectacular objects. Recent solo exhibitions include “and imagine you are here” at the Baltimore Museum of Art, “A window to the see, a spirit star chiming in the wind of wonder...” at Henry Art Gallery, “The Treasure House of Memory” at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, “Eternal Return & the Obsidian Heart” at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and “Reemerge the Zero Begins Your Life, Eternal is Your Light” at the SCAD Museum of Art. De Nieves has also been included in group exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth, High Line, MoMA PS1, Whitney Museum of American Art, K11 Art Foundation, documenta 14, Performa 13, Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, The Watermill Center, The Kitchen and Artists Space. De Nieves was born in 1983 in Michoacán, Mexico, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn.

Alteronce Gumby
031
2019
Watercolor on hot-pressed paper
30" x 22"

BEST NEW NARRATIVE DIRECTOR

Alteronce Gumby is a New York City–based artist working across painting, ceramics, installation and film. A visit to the Picasso Museum Barcelona inspired him to study at Dutchess Community College, Hunter College (BFA) and the Yale School of Art (MFA). Drawing from the cosmos and the materiality of space, his luminous, iridescent pieces challenge perceptions of form, color and identity. Gumby has been shown at Nicola Vassell Gallery, Hauser & Wirth and Gagosian, as well as featured in ARTnews, Frieze and Vogue magazines. His work is in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Gumby has held residencies at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Fondation des États-Unis. He looks forward to releasing his second documentary feature, COLOR in Nature, and to a 2025 solo show with Jeffrey Deitch.

Jeffrey Meris
Everything is everything
2025
Plaster particles on roofing paper, double-sided adhesive tape
81" x 38", 16" x 24"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Jeffrey Meris (born 1991, Haiti, raised in the Bahamas) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice engages with the relationship between materiality and larger cultural and social phenomena. Spanning sculpture, installation, performance and drawing, his work considers ecology, embodiment and various lived experiences while healing deeply personal and historical wounds. Meris earned an AA in arts and crafts from the University of The Bahamas, a BFA in sculpture from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University and an MFA in visual arts from Columbia University. He has exhibited at François Ghebaly, Prospect New Orleans, Williams College Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Lehmann Maupin New York, James Cohan Gallery, Mestre Projects, White Columns, Luggage Store Gallery, Halle 14 and National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. Meris is a Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture alum, a NXTHVN Studio Fellow, a Studio Museum in Harlem artist in residence (2022 – 2023) and a Jerome Hill Artists Fellow (2025 – 2028). Always Jeffrey, never “Jeff.”

Marilyn Minter
Absinthe
2017
C-print
24" x 16"

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT

Marilyn Minter is an artist and activist based in New York City. Through painting, photography and video work, Minter blurs the boundaries between attraction and repulsion. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Lehmann Maupin in Seoul, South Korea (2024), and Salon 94 in New York City (2023). Her retrospective “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty” traveled to several museums, including the Brooklyn Museum in 2016. Minter’s work is in the permanent collections of institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and more. She is represented by Salon 94, Regen Projects and Lehmann Maupin.

Simphiwe Ndzube
Untitled Study
2024
Pencil and crayons on paper
28" x 22"

BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE FEATURE

Simphiwe Ndzube’s work is inspired by history, remembering/retelling, language and music. Ndzube (born 1990, Johannesburg, South Africa) creates worlds of characters and bursting landscapes that challenge the idea of the individual and the nation. In a universe he terms “The Mine Moon,” Ndzube draws influence from his upbringing in a post-apartheid South Africa that lingers with the weight of history, subjugation and violence. His work is collected by the Denver Art Museum, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, HOW Art Museum, Iziko South African National Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Rubell Museum Miami and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, among many others.

Naudline Pierre
Eternal Freedom
2023
Lithograph with monotype hand-coloring
27" x 20.5"
Edition of 35 and 5 artist’s proofs
©Naudline Pierre 2025. Image courtesy of the artist, The Drawing Center and James Cohan, New York. Photo by Daniel Terna.

FOUNDERS AWARD FOR BEST U.S. NARRATIVE FEATURE

Naudline Pierre (born 1989, Leominster, Massachusetts) received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and a BFA from Andrews University. Pierre has been the subject of major solo exhibitions at The Drawing Center (2023) and the Dallas Museum of Art (2021). Eternal Freedom was created for The Drawing Center in conjunction with the artist’s solo exhibition “Naudline Pierre: This Is Not All There Is,” the first to exclusively feature Pierre’s works on paper. She also has been included in numerous group exhibitions, most recently at Fondation Carmignac, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Palais de Tokyo, Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica – Palazzo Barberini, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Prospect.5 New Orleans and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Faith Wilding
Three Dragons, One Goddess
2023
Gold leaf and archival pigment print on Hahnemühle hemp paper, signed and numbered by the artist
22" x 16"
Edition of 40 and 2 artist’s proofs

NORA EPHRON AWARD

Born in Paraguay in 1943, Faith Wilding has been an instrumental figure in the feminist art movement since the late 1960s. Her work melds her eco-feminist stance with poignant depictions of the natural world’s degradation, particularly in South America. Wilding co-initiated the groundbreaking Feminist Art Program with Miriam Schapiro and Judy Chicago. One of its pivotal exhibits, “Womanhouse,” showcased collaborative and feminist ideas, aiming to challenge a male-dominant art history narrative. Wilding’s contributions, especially the Womb Room fiber installation and the performance Waiting, have become emblematic of 1970s feminist art. Her work has been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Hammer Museum and Reina Sofia Museum. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, New York University and Carnegie Mellon University, where she co-founded the cyberfeminist collective subRosa. Wilding received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009 and the Women’s Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. She lives and works in Massachusetts.