Painter and recent graduate Meleko Mokgosi will receive the first Mohn Award, the announced earlier this month.
The $100,000 award, funded by Los Angeles philanthropists and art collectors Jarl and Pamela Mohn, will be granted to Mokgosi over two years. A monograph about his work will also be published.
Mokgosi, of Culver City, was one of five finalists up for the award. Professional curators chose the five from among 60 artists in the Made in L.A. 2012 exhibition. Exhibition visitors then voted for their favorite artist out of the finalists to receive the Mohn Award.
Other finalists included Simone Forti, of Westwood; Liz Glynn, of Chinatown; Slanguage (Karla Diaz and Mario Ybarra Jr., both of Wilmington); and Erika Vogt, of Highland Park.
"Mokgosi’s monumental painting ... is provocative, deeply political, and grapples with the complexities of post-colonial Africa and issues of representation," according to a statement from the Hammer Museum.
