WE ARE NICEN EASY HEADSHOT VIA ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART
The Orlando Museum of Art (Website) has announced the artist lineup for the 2026 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art, on view May 30 through August 23. Now in its 12th edition, this year’s exhibition is the largest in the show’s history, featuring 12 artists, including two collaborative duos.
This year’s lineup of selected artists includes Maria Theresa Barbist, Rose Marie Cromwell, Jason Hackenwerth, Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn, Francisco Masó, Jessy Nite, Charo Oquet, Ema Ri, Mette Tommerup, and We Are Nice’n Easy (Allison Matherly and Jeffrey Noble), and they span a wide range of practices, including painting, photography, installation, sculpture, weaving, performance, and large-scale immersive environments.
Local art-lovers may recall Hackenworth’s previous stint in Central Florida ten years ago, when his work was featured in Material World: Glass, Rubber and Paper as part of the Art & History Museums Maitland’s Art31 initiative, alongside Dale Chihuly, Lorrie Fredette, and Paige Smith. The exhibition ran through May 1, 2016, on the National Historic Landmark campus. Hackenwerth brought his signature large-scale latex balloon installations to the galleries, as well as his “Wearables” — massive constructed costumes worn by trained performers that appeared at both the Maitland Art Center and the Orlando Museum of Art during the run. At the time, Orlando Weekly described the installations as mammoth works that “overpower in person.” Though it seems his submissions to the Florida Prize are more focused on his 2-dimensional painting process.
This year’s group is drawn largely from Florida’s South Florida art scene, with artists based in Miami and St. Petersburg alongside voices with roots in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Austria, and Denmark. Their work touches on themes of language and coded lessons gleaned from Afro-Caribbean spiritual traditions, public land and environmental politics, trauma and resilience, and the aesthetics of wellness culture, among others.
“This year’s Florida Prize brings together an exceptional group of artists whose practices are distinct in form, yet deeply resonant in the ideas they explore,” said OMA chief curator Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon, who co-curated the exhibition with associate curator Katherine Page.
The exhibition opens with a ticketed preview party on Friday, May 29, from 6 to 9 p.m., during which the $20,000 Florida Prize will be awarded by invited juror Jade Powers, The Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. The event will also feature local chefs and caterers, each creating a dish inspired by one of the participating artists. A People’s Choice Award carrying a $2,500 prize will be voted on by the public throughout the summer.
Programming accompanying the exhibition will include artist talks, workshops, and performances. More information is at omart.org.
