James Elaine wins Ordway Prize

James Elaine, a curator at the UCLA Hammer Museum since 1999, has won the $100,000 Ordway Prize for mid-career artists, curators and art writers.

The award’s co-sponsors, the nonprofit group Creative Link for the Arts and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, cited Elaine’s work as curator of the Hammer Projects exhibitions devoted to emerging artists.

The announcement on Friday noted Elaine’s “consistency in showcasing artists very early in their careers, often for the first time in an institutional setting.” Another $100,000 prize went to Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles, cited as “one of the most influential living artists” in Latin America for his “provocative, poignant, technically daring” work since the 1960s.

Established in 2005, the Ordway Prize is one of the largest cash awards in the visual arts, geared for honorees ages 40 to 65 who have achieved significant careers without reaping widespread visibility and critical acclaim.