Motswana Painter Meleko Mokgosi Wins Big In America

Making us proud internationally is unconventional painter Meleko Mokgos, who is the winner of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Fine Arts. These Vilcek Prizes were designed to recognize and support emerging immigrant artists who have made outstanding contributions to American society, and each include a cash prize of $50,000.

Meleko Mokgosi makes figurative paintings that fit together to form “chapters” in large installations that suggest stories or narratives. In addition to prizes in fine arts, the Vilcek Foundation is also recognizing immigrants in the sciences with the 2017 Vilcek Prizes in Biomedical Science.

The winners were selected by panels of experts in a variety of artistic disciplines. Mokgosi has won several art prizes, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters Grant and the Jarl and Pamela Mohn Award, plus shown his work at Art Basel, the Armory, and the Hammer and the Whitney museums. You have made us proud sir.