2021 Doctorow Prize Winner: Genesis Jerez

Using old photos, xerox transfers, charcoal, and paint on raw unstretched linen canvas, Genesis Jerez reconstructs domestic environments through collage that feel both familiar and uncanny. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Jerez’s work relies heavily on patterns and textiles, which repeat and repeat, ultimately taking the shape of flooring, chairs, couches, and forming masked-like figures.

A deeply personal process, Jerez’s practice conjures specific places, taken from family photographs, as a kind of meditation. Describing her work, Jerez turned to a passage from the bible, “Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother (Romans 14:13 ESV).”

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, in connection with the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation, is honored to present the winner of the 2021 Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, Genesis Jerez. The prize, which began ten years ago in 2011, is jointly administered by UMOCA and Suzanne Larsen, who created the award to honor her mother, a painter.

This special prize is awarded every other year to a distinguished painter whose work shows advancement in the field and practice of painting. No artist can apply for consideration, as selections come only via nominations by prestigious organizations, independent curators, artists, and gallerists, from around the nation.  This year’s nominators included the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Illinois), Suburban (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (Texas), Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), Good Weather (Chicago, Illinois and Little Rock, Arkansas), to name a few.

Final selection is made from a diverse panel of jurors. This year’s jurors included: Andrew Alba (painter, Utah); Suzanne Larsen (artist and Executive Director of the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation, Utah); Nancy Rivera (artist and Visual Arts Program Manager at the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Utah); Thuy-Van Vu (painter and Arts Administrator at Cornish College of the Arts, Washington); and Chase Westfall (painter and Curator of Student Exhibitions and Programs at The Anderson at Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia).

Genesis Jerez (b. 1993, Bronx, NY) holds a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology and was a Resident at BronxArtSpace in 2019. Jerez is currently a 2020-2021 Artist in Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem.