At a dinner and awards ceremony on Thursday, October 29, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum announced with event partner Calvin Klein Collection the winners of Rob Pruitt’s The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in association with White Columns. Artist Rob Pruitt, whose conceptual practice is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures, conceived the event as a performance-based artwork.
Modeled after Hollywood award ceremonies with high- profile prizes, the Art Awards honor and publicly acknowledge the successes and achievements of artists, curators, critics, and gallerists. The Art Awards inaugurates an annual celebration of select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the previous year. As a fundraiser for the Guggenheim, White Columns, and Studio in a School, the ceremony presented ten awards and honored artist Joan Jonas and curator Kasper König with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Nominations in nine categories which focused primarily on exhibitions and projects that took place over the preceding eighteen months (January 2008 to June 2009) in the United States, as well as one category recognizing an international exhibition, were made by a Nominating Council of more than one hundred artists and art-world professionals. Final votes were cast by a larger representation of the community. The two Lifetime Achievement Awards were determined by Rob Pruitt along with organizing partners the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and White Columns, and the Rob Pruitt Award was decided solely by the artist.

The winners in each of the ten categories – in addition to the Lifetime Achievement Awards –are:
Artist of the Year: Mary Heilmann;
Curator of the Year: Connie Butler;
Exhibition Outside the United States: Jeff Koons, Versailles, Château de Versailles, France;
Group Show of the Year, Gallery: Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns? , Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York;
Group Show of the Year, Museum: The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York;
Calvin Klein Collection New Artist of the Year Award: Ryan Trecartin;
The Rob Pruitt Award: Cynthia Plaster Caster;
Solo Show of the Year, Gallery: Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York;
Solo Show of the Year, Museum: Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Modern Art, New York;
Writer of the Year: Jerry Saltz.

For the awards ceremony, Pruitt invited the Delusional Downtown Divas to preside over the event as Masters of Ceremonies, with Glenn O’Brien stepping in as the Announcer, or, as Pruitt describes his role, “the Voice of God.” Guests entering the Museum on the red carpet were entertained by live interviews being conducted with Yvonne Force Villareal, Doreen Remen, and Casey Fremont of the Art Production Fund. A distinguished list of presenters distributed the awards, created by Pruitt to resemble a celebratory bucket of champagne that also serves as a fully functional lamp. Original music was composed by Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, who performed at the event.>br> Christine Muhlke, food editor of the New York Times Magazine, designed a menu of locally sourced foods culled from Brooklyn-based restaurants and chefs for the seated dinner, celebrating the neighbourhoods where many of the honoured artists live and work.
Net proceeds from the 2009 Art Awards will benefit the following not-for-profit arts organizations: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, White Columns, and Studio in a School.

Images, from top: Rob Pruitt inside the Guggenheim Museum, photographed by Adrian Gaut; Rob Pruitt, Art Awards statuette, 2009 (Champagne bucket, Champagne bottle, prop ice, lightbulb, wire, dimensions variable), photo by Thomas Mueller; portrait of Rob Pruitt and the Delusional Downtown Divas (photo by Kai Regan); Rob Pruitt with Joan Jonas (photo by Roger Kisby).