Brandon Brown
This week, Gulf Coast announced the winners of its inaugural Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing. Named in honor of the late Toni Beauchamp, who was a key supporter of the journal Art Lies, the prize’s $3,000 award went to El Cerrito, California-based writer Brandon Brown. Brown is the author of poetry collections and chapbooks, including The Good Life (Big Lucks) and Top 40 (Roof). He writes for Art in America, The Best American Experimental Writing, Fanzine, Oberon, and Open Space. Dust Balls, Brown’s winning essay, will be printed in the upcoming Summer/Fall 2018 issue of Gulf Coast.
Two runners-up received recognition and honorable mention awards of $1000: New Delhi-based writer Blessy Augustine for her piece about the 2016 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and Massachusetts-based writer Alexander Castro for his piece Outside the Manège.
This year’s prize was juried by University of Chicago art historian Darby English. Rachel Cook, Gulf Coast’s Art Editor, wrote of Brown’s winning essay:
“The winning essay exemplifies what critical art writing is and what it can do. It not only beautifully describes Mike Kelley’s photography, but also goes further to intimately explore mortality and questions of the human condition.”
For more on the prize, go here.
