Glasstire Writer Neil Fauerso Wins the Rabkin Foundation $50,000 Art Writing Prize

by Glasstire March 26, 2020
Neil_Fauerso-one-of-nine-winners-of-the-2020-Rabkin-Prize

Neil Fauerso, one of nine winners of the 2020 Rabkin Prize.

For the second time in three years, a writer for Glasstire has won The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation $50,000 prize for visual arts journalism. San Antonio’s Neil Fauerso, a regular contributor and guest editor for Glasstire, has been awarded the prize. (The prize was awarded to Glasstire’s editor-in-chief Christina Rees in 2017.) Fauerso’s most recent art review in Glasstire is for the exhibition The Only Certain Way: Joe Harjo at Sala Diaz. With his singular voice, he frequently contributes essays, op-eds, and think pieces on pop culture and news.

There were nine Rabkin awards given for the 2020 round of prizes, and this is the fourth grant-giving year for the Portland, Maine-based foundation.

The prize recognizes outstanding career contributions by art critics who inform the public through their writing on contemporary art and artists. This program is by nomination, and involves “deliberation of panels of nationally-recognized curators, writers, artists and other thoughtful readers of contemporary art criticism.”

“In this unprecedented and tragic time, the foundation released funding immediately and chose to forego the celebrations and formalities that made this moment so enjoyable and memorable in recent years,” the Foundation states in its press release about the prize. “We are committed to the support of visual art journalists who, with artists, are the backbone of the art community in every part of the country.”

The full 2020 Rabkin Prize winners list includes Neil Fauerso, San Antonio; Seph Rodney, Bronx, New York; Elisa Turner, Miami Florida; Mary Abbe, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Steve Litt, Cleveland, Ohio; Erin Nelson, Atlanta, Georgia; Amanda Fortini, Las Vegas, Nevada; Sam Lefebvre, San Francisco, California, and Jerry Cullum Atlanta, Georgia.

Neil Fauerso and Christina Rees at the most recent Austin Film Festival

Fauerso states in an email to Glasstire:

“I am enormously grateful to the Rabkin Foundation, the wonderful family at Glasstire, and all the brilliant artists in Texas producing inspiring and provocative works. Texas is a massive, country-sized state and I firmly believe that great art happens here all the time. Some of the shows I have seen at Presa House or Sala Diaz are as transformative and ‘important’ as any shows I have seen at international museums. It is a great honor to write about art in Texas, and this award allows me to continue to do so during these uncertain times.”

Established in 1999, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation was created to share the work and legacy of artist and collector Leo Rabkin. Rabkin was an artist who worked and exhibited in New York City for sixty years. Based in Portland, Maine, the foundation includes an exhibition space dedicated to showing Rabkin’s works.

5 comments

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5 comments

Christopher Blay March 26, 2020 - 12:42

Congratulations, Neil! This prize is very well deserved.

Reply
Jonathan Valdez March 26, 2020 - 14:12

go Neil!

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chris sauter March 27, 2020 - 10:56

super

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Henry G. Sanchez March 28, 2020 - 17:29

Congratulations and well deserved!

Reply
Ruben C Cordova March 29, 2020 - 14:35

Congratulations, Neil!

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