Last week, the J. Paul Getty Trust named contemporary artist and CalArts alum Mark Bradford (Art BFA 95, MFA 97) as the 2024 recipient of its highest honor: the Getty Prize.
Established in 2013, the annual prize (originally called the Getty Medal) now recognizes a single cultural leader whose work “expands human understanding and appreciation of arts and culture.” As this year’s winner, Bradford will get to select a nonprofit organization to receive a $500,000 grant. Per J. Paul Getty Trust President and CEO Katherine E. Fleming, this addition to the prize enables the trust not only to recognize the personal achievements of the awardee, but to “pay it forward” to nonprofits working in their sector.
“I am deeply honored to be among the illustrious recipients of the Getty Prize and am grateful for this opportunity to bring such generous support to a non-profit organization of my choosing,” Bradford was quoted in the Getty’s official announcement.
Bradford and the nonprofit organization of his choice will be honored at the annual Getty Prize dinner on May 13, 2024, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
Named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2021, Bradford is a Los Angeles-based contemporary artist known for his investigation of race, class, and gender through abstract collage works fashioned from found materials. His career-long exploration of oppressive systems is evident in his works, notably his 2021 exhibition Masses and Movements, which was the inaugural show at Hauser & Wirth Menorca.
