Earlier this year, Bushwick Daily reported that UOVO, a fine art storage company, got a massive bank loan to build its new outpost in Bushwick. Now, the company has another announcement—but this time it’s about art.
In collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum, UOVO is launching a new emerging artists prize: The UOVO Prize at the Brooklyn Museum. This prize is designed for an artist living or working in the Brooklyn borough, and is supported by the high-end storage company.
“The Brooklyn Museum is excited to join UOVO in this effort to highlight and nurture the vibrant cultural producers of Brooklyn,” said Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum in a statement. “We’re proud to share this borough with countless emerging artists, and are always looking for opportunities to support their work in a multitude of ways.”
The winning artist will not only receive a cash prize of $25,000, but will also be awarded a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and have the opportunity to install their art publicly on the exterior of UOVO’s forthcoming Bushwick facility. According to Anne Maso, Marketing and Communications Manager at UOVO: “Steven Guttman, UOVO’s founder and chairman, approached the museum with the idea. He was inspired by the Marcel Duchamp Prize at the Centre Pompidou.”
The emerging artist will be selected by curators from the Brooklyn Museum, and their decision will be announced in June. “Emerging,” in this context, speaks to the artist’s need for institutional (read: financial) support; someone whose career could use the added visibility that will undoubtedly come with a large-scale solo exhibition and 50-foot by 50-foot installation near the entrance to the new facility.
“As we prepare to open UOVO:BROOKLYN, we want to celebrate the artists and institutions in this dynamic borough,” said Guttman. “We hope the opportunity for a solo museum exhibition, combined with a public installation and direct cash award, will have significant impact on the winning artist’s career… By supporting both a public installation and a museum exhibition, we hope the Prize will engage the community at multiple levels.”
UOVO:BROOKLYN is poised to open at 105 Evergreen Avenue in the fall of this year, and the public mural (which will be on display for one year) will be revealed at the same time. To see the selected artist’s exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, you’ll have to wait until 2020.
UOVO chose to place their high-end art storage building in Bushwick for various reasons: the vibrant arts community, the subway access, and because the building site was… huge. “It offers parking space for our 10-truck fleet, which includes a tractor-trailer,” says Maso. “Additionally, the building itself is made of reinforced concrete, which is good for both security and climate control.”
Cover image courtesy of Kris Graves.
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