Guggenheim introduces a new $50,000 award to spotlight emerging and overlooked artists

Highlights

• Guggenheim New York selects Catherine Telford Keogh as the inaugural Jack Galef Visual Arts Award winner.
  
• The biennial prize includes a $50,000 unrestricted award.
  
• The honor recognizes emerging talent or under-recognized artistic achievement.
  

Guggenheim launches new biennial prize

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York announces Canadian-born, New York–based artist Catherine Telford Keogh as the first recipient of the Jack Galef Visual Arts Award. The newly established biennial prize recognizes exceptional achievement in visual art and carries an unrestricted award of $50,000.

The award is funded through a gift from the Jack Galef Estate and will be presented every two years, beginning in 2025. Recipients are selected by a jury drawn from the Guggenheim’s curatorial department.

Award honors emerging and overlooked artists

According to the museum, the Jack Galef Visual Arts Award is designed to support either younger artists who show notable promise or older artists whose work has yet to receive broader recognition. The prize reflects Galef’s long-standing commitment to mentorship and arts education.

“Jack held deep roots in New York City, where he was both a teacher and mentor to emerging visual artists,” said Jade Borgeson and Sandra Sindel, co-executors of the Jack Galef Estate, in a joint statement. They described Galef as an artist and advocate who believed in investing directly in artistic talent.

A practice shaped by materials and infrastructure

Born in Toronto in 1986, Telford Keogh works primarily in sculpture and installation, often using found and industrial materials. Her practice examines how materials change over time and how infrastructure shapes daily life.

She has presented solo exhibitions with Helena Anrather in New York and Erin Stump Projects in Toronto. She is currently a Socrates Fellow at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City and has been longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in Canada.

In a press statement, Telford Keogh said the award will allow her to deepen collaborations and continue the slow, research-driven approach that underpins her work.

Part of Guggenheim’s wider awards program

Mariët Westermann, director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, said the new prize reflects the institution’s commitment to sustaining artistic innovation and supporting artists pushing visual art in new directions.

The Jack Galef Visual Arts Award joins other Guggenheim-affiliated prizes, including the Guggenheim LG Award, which offers $100,000 to artists working with technology. Korean artist Ayoung Kim received the LG Award in February 2025. The museum previously administered the Hugo Boss Prize, another $100,000 award that ended in 2022.