NEW YORK.- The New Museum and Altoids, the Curiously Strong Mints®, today announced the first winners of The Altoids Award. Ei Arakawa of New York City; Michael Patterson-Carver of Portland, Oregon; Lauren Kelley of Houston, Texas; and Michael Stickrod of New Haven, Connecticut were selected among forty-six nominees by a jury composed of Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. A truly unique exploration of American emerging art, the prize is awarded biennially by the New Museum and Altoids to four artists nominated and selected by a panel comprised entirely of other artists. Award recipients in 2008 are each given a $25,000 cash prize—totaling $100,000—as well as a joint exhibition organized by Massimiliano Gioni, Director of Special Exhibitions at the New Museum, on view from June 25 through October 12, 2008, offering these artists their earliest exposure to a broad, international museum audience.

Working in different media, spanning performance to video and drawing, the four winners offer a vivid picture of today’s American art and a complex, view of America itself. The artists also seem to be interested in new forms of storytelling, and in their individual styles they all explore the ways people come together to form groups based on identity, collaboration, family ties, or politics.

“Altoids has long been a key advocate of contemporary artists and a supporter of the New Museum. The Altoids Award is a significant way for Altoids and the Museum to expand their recognition of new American talent. For so many of these artists, this is a life-changing opportunity, and that is exactly what we are here for—to champion emerging artists and to consistently offer our audiences the chance to experience new art and new ideas from a variety of perspectives,” said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, New Museum.

The Altoids Award is based on a unique selection process that calls for a geographically and stylistically diverse group of ten artists to each nominate up to five emerging artists they have identified as producing especially innovative, unusual, and powerful work. The nominators themselves are selected for their proven commitment to publicly supporting the artistic community through writing, teaching, organizing exhibitions, running alternative spaces, or simply promoting their colleagues. The nominators for the first Altoids Award were Edgar Arceneaux (Los Angeles); Allora and Calzadilla (San Juan, Puerto Rico); Mitch Cope (Detroit); Trisha Donnelly (San Francisco); Harrell Fletcher (Portland, Oregon); Michelle Grabner (Chicago); Jay Heikes (Minneapolis); Matt Keegan (New York); Rick Lowe (Houston); and Frances Stark (Los Angeles). The award recipients were chosen from the nominated pool of artists by three established artists known for their groundbreaking work and for their unflagging commitment to engaging and supporting new talent. Jurors Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman, and Rirkrit Tiravanija selected the four 2008 Altoids Award winners from a pool of forty-six nominees.