ARTnews Unveils Nominees for 2026 ARTnews Awards

ARTnews has revealed the nominees for the 2026 ARTnews Awards, its third annual prize honoring excellence in art at US institutions and galleries. The eligibility cycle ran from August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026.

The awards, launched in 2024, will again be given in six categories: Emerging Artist of the Year, Established Artist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Historical Artist of the Year, Best Thematic Museum Exhibition, and Best Gallery Group Show.

Five of the country's top curators juried this year's prizes, joined by two ARTnews editors: Giampaolo Bianconi, Dittmer Associate Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago; Jordan Carter, Curator, Dia Art Foundation; Lauren Cornell, Artistic Director, Hessel Museum of Art, Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College; Miranda Lash, Ellen Bruss Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver; and Diana Nawi, Curator of Special Projects, Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, plus ARTnews Senior Editor Maximilíano Durón and Deputy Editor Alex Greenberger.

"It's such an honor to, for the third time, reveal the nominees for the ARTnews Awards," ARTnews Editor in Chief Sarah Douglas said. "It's so easy for a season of amazing exhibitions to go by without truly recognizing the talent that goes into creating them: the artists, the curators, and the institutions. These awards are a way of pausing for a moment, and giving people the accolades they deserve, and it feels right that ARTnews, with its nearly 125 years of criticism and journalism, is the one to do so."

Emerging Artist of the Year

The category recognizes an artist having a first significant gallery or small nonprofit solo show, or making an important contribution to a biennial.

The nominees are:

• Eric Gyamfi, for "Exposure: Black Queer Visual Constellations" at Brown Arts Institute, Providence (April 16–June 15, 2026) and contributions to "If the word we: 59th Carnegie International" (May 2, 2026–January 3, 2027)
• Blas Isasi, for "Currents 125: Blas Isasi" at the Saint Louis Art Museum (February 6–August 9, 2026)
• Coco Klockner, for "In Practice: Coco Klockner" at SculptureCenter, New York (October 18–December 22, 2025)
• Emma McCormick Goodhart, for "sottobosco (climate remix): CAVE 0" at SculptureCenter, New York (December 11–22, 2025)
• Christelle Oyiri, for "Belief May Vary" at Amant, New York (March 19–August 19, 2026)

Established Artist of the Year

This prize goes to an artist with more than a decade of exhibition history whose latest exhibition comes at a pivotal career moment.

• Raven Chacon, for "Tiguex," made in collaboration with the Tamarind Institute, the City of Albuquerque's Department of Arts and Culture, and the University of New Mexico Department of Music (September 27, 2025)
• Mike Cloud, for "Worldless Obstruction" at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (May 2, 2026–February 7, 2027)
• Vaginal Davis, for "Magnificent Product" at MoMA PS1, New York (October 9, 2025–March 2, 2026), her US debut
• Jacqueline Humphries, for her exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum (December 12, 2025–April 5, 2026)
• Saodat Ismailova, for "Amanat" at Swiss Institute, New York (January 21–April 12, 2026)

Lifetime Achievement

The category recognizes an influential living artist having a retrospective or survey at a major US museum.

• Coco Fusco, for "Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island" at El Museo del Barrio, New York (September 18, 2025–March 1, 2026)
• Maren Hassinger, for "Living Moving Growing" at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (June 6–November 29, 2026)
• Suzanne Jackson, for "What Is Love" at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (September 27, 2025–March 1, 2026), traveling to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (May 14–August 23, 2026) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (September 26, 2026–January 18, 2027)
• David Lamelas, for "The Machine" at Dia Chelsea, New York (March 6, 2026–January 16, 2027)
• Martin Puryear, for "Nexus" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (September 27, 2025–February 8, 2026), traveling to the Cleveland Museum of Art (April 12–August 9, 2026)

Historical Artist of the Year

This award honors a deceased artist who is the subject of a major museum survey offering a new lens on their work.

• Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, for "Multiple Offerings" at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (January 24–April 19, 2026)
• Wifredo Lam, for "When I Don't Sleep, I Dream" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (November 10, 2025–April 11, 2026)
• Tom Lloyd, for his exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (November 15, 2025–March 22, 2026), traveling to the Frye Art Museum, Seattle (May 16–September 20, 2026)
• Ceija Stojka, for "Making Visible" at The Drawing Center, New York (February 20–June 7, 2026)
• Betty Parsons, for "An World Expanded" at CCS Bard's Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (June 27–October 18, 2026)

Best Thematic Museum Exhibition

The category recognizes a group show at a museum or nonprofit with a strong curatorial point of view or focused on a significant historical period.

• "Into the Time Horizon", Nevada Museum of Art, Reno (November 15, 2025–January 3, 2027). Curators: Apsara DiQuinzio, with Kolin Perry
• "If the word we: 59th Carnegie International", Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (May 2, 2026–January 3, 2027). Curators: Ryan Inouye, Danielle A. Jackson, and Liz Park
• "Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way", Buffalo AKG Art Museum (March 6–September 6, 2026). Curator: Andrea Alvarez
• "MONUMENTS", The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and The Brick, Los Angeles (October 23, 2025–May 3, 2026). Curators: Hamza Walker, Kara Walker, and Bennett Simpson, with Hannah Burstein and Paula Kroll
• "Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials", Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (April 5–August 23, 2026). Curators: Pablo José Ramírez, with Jessi DiTillio

Best Gallery Group Show

The final category recognizes a group show at a commercial gallery or unconventional venue as part of an artist-initiated project with an intriguing selection of artists and a unique perspective.

• "Horror", Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles (November 21, 2025–February 14, 2026). Curator: Jill Mulleady
• "How Beautiful This Living Thing Is", Ortuzar, New York (April 22–May 30, 2026). Curator: Andrew Durbin
• "Snake, Turtle, Alligator: The Atomic Archive of Bryan LaPlante, Gregg Bordowitz, Nina Katchadourian, Lucy Raven, Elaine Reichek, Turquoise, Bruno Zhu", David Peter Francis, New York, co-organized with Interrobang (January 10–February 7, 2026)
• "Statics of an Egg", David Zwirner, New York (May 8–June 27, 2026). Curator: Martin Germann
• "What We Hold On To", Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum, Englewood, Colorado (September 5–December 12, 2025)

With winners set to emerge from a jury spanning Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and New York, the 2026 edition will test whether the prize, still only in its third year, can cement itself as a fixture of the American art-world calendar alongside the exhibitions it exists to celebrate.