Thomas Lax, Linda Goode Bryant win 2024 Brendan Gill Prize for exhibition, ‘Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces’

— Awarded each year to the creator of a specific work, the MoMA exhibition was selected by the Brendan Gill Prize jury for capturing the spirit and energy of New York City —

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) has named curator Thomas Lax and artist Linda Goode Bryant as the winners of the 2024 Brendan Gill Prize for their exhibition, Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces.

The 2023 Museum of Modern Art exhibition beautifully documented Linda Goode Bryant’s art gallery and self-described laboratory, Just Above Midtown (JAM), a space that fostered the creativity and careers of African American artists and artists of color in the 70s and 80s.

“The Municipal Art Society is thrilled to honor Thomas Lax and Linda Goode Bryant with the 2024 Brendan Gill Prize for their exceptional exhibit on Just Above Midtown,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, President, Municipal Art Society of New York. “This remarkable exhibition not only brought renewed attention to the groundbreaking work of Linda Goode Bryant and the vibrant, transformative space of Just Above Midtown but also highlighted the critical contributions of African American artists and artists of color to New York City’s cultural landscape. We look forward to celebrating their achievements at the Museum of Modern Art and engaging in a meaningful dialogue about the JAM’s  impact and legacy.”

The celebration of this year’s honorees will take place at the Museum of Modern Art. As part of the festivities, Thomas Lax, Linda Goode Bryant, and members of the Brendan Gill Prize Jury will participate in an engaging conversation about the exhibition. Complimentary refreshments and light bites will be served.

Lax and Goode Bryant were selected to receive this honor by the Municipal Art Society’s distinguished Brendan Gill Prize jury, which consisted of: 

John Haworth, Brendan Gill Prize Jury Chair, Senior Executive Emeritus, National Museum of the American Indian/NY, Smithsonian Institution; 

Randall Bourscheidt, Director, Archive of New York City Cultural Policy; 

Roz Chast, Cartoonist, The New Yorker; 

Patricia Cruz, Artistic Director and CEO, Harlem Stage; 

Gail Gregg, Artist and Journalist; 

Cassim Shepard, Urbanist, Filmmaker, and Author; 

Laurie Beckelman, Not-for-profit Consultant; 

Gonzalo Casals, Senior Research and Policy Fellow, Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; 

Dario Calmese, Founder/CEO, The Institute of Black Imagination; and 

Michael Unthank, Independent Arts Consultant.

About Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces

Just Above Midtown—or JAM—was an art gallery and self-described laboratory led by Linda Goode Bryant that foregrounded African American artists and artists of color. Open from 1974 until 1986, it was a place where Black art flourished and debate was cultivated. The gallery offered early opportunities for artists now recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art, including David Hammons, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O’Grady, and Howardena Pindell. Nengudi has described JAM’s energy as “vibrating,” a space where artists “were given carte blanche, and there were no restrictions.” This exhibition presented artists and artworks previously shown at JAM in a wide range of mediums, and archival material and artist interventions contextualize the experimental ethos that defined the gallery.

Animated by Goode Bryant’s belief in trying to “connect us to our innate ability to use what we have to create what we need,” the gallery took what was an expansive view at the time, embracing artists working with abstraction and inexpensive materials, video and performance, as well as self-taught and West Coast artists. It organized exhibitions that explored the idea of artistic and racial diversity, encouraged collaborations between artists, and, with a steady drumbeat, offered a platform for consistent critiques of the commercialization of art. As part of their mission to build relationships with the city’s art audiences, Goode Bryant and her collaborators incorporated talks and workshops into the gallery’s programming, including The Business of Being an Artist—aimed at artists’ professional development—and Brunch with JAM, a $5 lunch series featuring lectures by artists and museum curators. This exhibition likewise included performances, screenings, and public programs, as well as a range of collaborations.

The exhibition also continued across New York City with Inside/Out, a series of artist commissions presented by Project EATS—Goode Bryant’s living installation that transforms vacant lots and rooftops into neighborhood-based farms. In the spirit of JAM, the series brings art from inside museums and galleries out into neighborhoods around the city. Learn more and find all Inside/Out locations by visiting Project EATS.

About Thomas Lax

Thomas Lax is Curator of Media and Performance at the Museum of Modern Art. They co-organized the exhibition Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces (2022) with Lilia Rocio Taboada in collaboration with JAM’s founder Linda Goode Bryant. They worked with colleagues across MoMA on a major rehang of its collection (2019) and co-organized the exhibition Judson Dance Theater: The Work is Never Done (2018) with Ana Janevski and Martha Joseph. Their other collaboratively-organized exhibitions include the Projects Series for emerging artists with Lanka Tattersall; Unfinished Conversations, inspired by the cultural theorist Stuart Hall; the contemporary art quinquennial, Greater New York; and commissions with artists including Neïl Beloufa, Maria Hassabi, and Steffani Jemison. Previously, they worked at The Studio Museum in Harlem for seven years, where they organized When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South and participated in the landmark “f show” contemporary art series.

About Linda Goode Bryant

Linda Goode Bryant is an artist, filmmaker, and Founder and President of Project EATS–a living installation transforming vacant lots and rooftops into neighborhood-based farms catalyzing creativity and cultivating greater food sovereignty across New York City. She is also the Founder of Just Above Midtown gallery–a laboratory that foregrounded the work of African American artists between 1974–1986. She won a Peabody Award for the film Flag Wars (2003) and in 2020, she was a recipient of an Anonymous Was a Woman Award and a United States Artists Berresford Prize. She is a former Guggenheim Fellow.

In 2021, Goode-Bryant created the installation “Are We Really That Different” in collaboration with architect Liz Diller for the exhibition, Social Works, at Gagosian Gallery (NY). In 2022 she was lead faculty for the RAW Material Academy Session 9 and Exhibition, in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Philadelphia. She worked in collaboration with Thomas J. Lax, Curator and Lilia Rocio Taboada, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and Performance, in organizing the Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, October 2022 – February 2023.

About the Brendan Gill Prize

The Brendan Gill Prize was established in 1987 in honor of Brendan Gill by friend and fellow MAS board member Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis along with board members Helen Tucker and Margot Wellington. The Prize is given each year to the creator of a specific work–a book, essay, musical composition, play, painting, sculpture, architectural design, film, or choreographic piece–that best captures the spirit and energy of New York City. Past winners include Ang Lee, Louis Malle, Sufjan Stevens, Kara Walker, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, among many other prestigious awardees.

About MAS

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape New York’s built environment and leads the way toward a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. MAS envisions a future in which all New Yorkers share in the richness of city life—where growth is balanced, character endures, and a resilient future is secured. Over more than 130 years of history, our advocacy efforts have led to the creation of the New York City Planning Commission, Public Design Commission, Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Tribute in Light; the preservation of Grand Central Terminal, the lights of Times Square, and the Garment District; the conservation of more than 50 works of public art; and the founding of such civic organizations as the Public Art Fund, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, P.S. 1, the Historic Districts Council, the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, and the Waterfront Alliance.