Versatile and uncompromising
Painter Kerry James Marshall is honoured in Cologne.
The Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst (Society for Contemporary Art) at Museum Ludwig in Cologne is honouring the painter Kerry James Marshall with the 2014 Wolfgang Hahn Prize. The award is worth a total of about 100,000 Euro and includes the purchase of one of the artist’s paintings for Museum Ludwig’s collection. The society awards the prize once a year to outstanding contemporary artists. The criteria are a consistent development of the artistic output over several decades, and international recognition by the art community. In his paintings, sculptures and objects, Kerry James Marshall devotes himself to the Afro-American identity. His biography always plays a role: he grew up in the immediate vicinity of the Black Panther movement’s headquarters in Los Angeles, where he experienced historic moments of the black civil rights movement. Guest juror Elena Filipovic explained the jury’s decision: “He has built an uncompromising body of work that includes collage, sculpture, animation and video-making alongside a deep attachment to painting as a medium.”
