Darren Bader receives 2013 Calder Prize
Calder Foundation
207 W. 25th Street
New York, NY 10001
The Calder Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2013 Calder Prize will be awarded to American artist Darren Bader. The Calder Prize, in the amount of 50,000 USD, honors contemporary artists who have completed exemplary work early in their careers that can be interpreted as a continuation of Calder’s legacy. In addition to the cash prize, the laureate benefits from a residency at the Atelier Calder and the placement of a signature work in a major public collection.
Bader’s innovative and unconventional use of materials push the boundaries of sculpture and activate environments with unexpected pairings and phenomenological experiences. Whether the work is living, decomposing, or collapsing, the artist elicits the viewer’s response through lyrical absurdity, often compelling an instinctive desire to intervene. Bader appropriates film, music, text, digital images, and found objects, creating complicated hierarchies of cultural production that mine the intersection between the real and the fictive, and frequently employ double-entendres and wordplay.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1978, Bader currently lives and works in New York City. Since 2000, his work has been exhibited worldwide, most recently in the solo exhibition Darren Bader: Images, curated by Peter Eleey and Christopher Y. Lew at MoMA PS1 (2012). Bader has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, such as Put It In Your Mouth / I’ll see you on the dark side of the prune at Rivington Arms (2005); More Songs About Buildings and Food: A Recipe For Downtown at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (2006); Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market at Frieze Art Fair, London (2007); To Illustrate and Multiply: An Open Book at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008); White Room at White Columns (2010); and Calder Foundation group exhibitions in New York City (2012 & 2013). The artist is also included in the group exhibition Empire State of Mind at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, on view 22 April to 21 July 2013.
The Calder Prize grew out of the success of the Atelier Calder residency program, which Bader will undertake in 2014. During the residency program, he will live and work at Calder’s home and studio in Saché, France. The technical and financial support Bader is awarded during his stay at the Atelier will allow the artist to undertake artistic projects that might not otherwise be possible.
The Calder Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987 by Alexander S. C. Rower and the Calder family, is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, preserving, and interpreting the art and archives of Alexander Calder and is charged with an unmatched collection of his works. The Foundation’s projects include collaborating on exhibitions and publications, organizing and maintaining the Calder archives, examining works attributed to Calder, and cataloguing the artist’s works. The Foundation’s programming also encompasses its own exhibitions, lectures, performances, and events on Calder as well as contemporary artists, including those whose work the Foundation supports through its biannual Calder Prize and the Atelier Calder residency program in Saché, France.
The Atelier Calder was created over twenty years ago by Calder’s wife Louisa and daughters Sandra Calder Davidson and Mary Calder Rower, with the invaluable assistance of Stanley Cohen, Calder’s lawyer, long-time friend and neighbor in Saché. Currently under the Presidency of Alfred Pacquement, the Atelier Calder was established in conjunction with the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP) and receives additional financial support from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (DRAC Centre), the Région Centre, and the Calder Foundation. The Atelier Calder works closely with the Calder Foundation and the Scone Foundation to make this award possible.
Media contact: Lily Lyons, Director of External Affairs: extaffairs [at] calder.org
