Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1498290
O utside the Nasher Sculpture Center, it was one of those rare perfect evenings, as if the weather saw all the glamorous updos and agreed to behave. From the stage in the dinner tent, 79-year- old artist Senga Nengudi accepted the 2023 Nasher Prize, an annual award that grants $100,000 and worldwide prestige to "a living artist whose work has had an extraordinary impact on the understanding of sculpture." In an artist statement, Nengudi once wrote: "An artist's supposed greatest desire is the making of objects that will last lifetimes …. this has never been a priority for me." Hence, the gala paid homage to the theme of impermanence. You could see it in the gorgeous but short-lived fresh flower chandeliers. You could see it in the entertainment by vocalist Damon K. Clark and Dallas Black Dance Theater's Nycole Ray — after all, no art is as temporary as performance. Soon we'll loosen our bow ties and shimmy out of shapewear; soon the weather will preclude outdoor parties. So, we celebrated the ephemerality of beauty, of life, of art. Honoring 2023 Nasher Prize Laureate Senga Nengudi By Diana Spechler. Photography Jonathan Zizzo, A Sea of Love, Can Turk. Nasher's Night Dan Patterson Derek Wilson Kathryn Andrews Christen Wilson Carlos Gonzalez-Jaime Agustin Arteaga, Lynn McBee Jeff Netzer Nasher Prize winner Laureate Senga Nengudi David Haemisegger Nancy Nasher Jeremy Strick Marlena & Brent English Jacqueline & William Stavi- Raines 28