The Guggenheim Museum has announced a new biennial art prize, the Jack Galef Visual Arts Award, endowed by the estate of Jack Galef with a $50,000 honorarium. The first recipient is Catherine Telford Keogh, a sculptor whose work explores found materials, environmental contamination, and the global economy. Keogh plans to use the award to support projects examining microbial life in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal and a solo exhibition in Portland tracing the history of instruments that regulate eating.
The prize fills a gap left by the defunct Hugo Boss Prize, which the Guggenheim last awarded in 2020. It signals the museum's continued commitment to supporting individual artists through direct financial awards, alongside its existing LG-sponsored technology prize. The award's flexible medium criteria and focus on both emerging and under-recognized older artists reflect a broader trend in art philanthropy toward unrestricted support for creative risk-taking.