Johanna Mirabel and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Awarded the CPGA – Prix Etant donnés 2024 at Art Basel Miami Beach

Miami Beach, December 5, 2024 — Johanna Mirabel and Galerie Nathalie Obadia are winners of the 2024 CPGA – Étant donnés Prize, which recognizes excellence in contemporary creation and promotes the vital role of galleries in championing artists of the French art scene internationally.

“We were struck by Johanna Mirabel’s technical virtuosity, scale, and chosen subject of Carnival,” the jury noted. “[along with] the promise of her practice; and the commitment of the gallery Nathalie Obadia to supporting an artist at the dawn of an exciting career.”

Born in 1991 in Colombes, Johanna Mirabel currently lives and works in Paris. A French painter of Guyanese origin, Mirabel creates ethereal interior scenes, inhabited by characters in languid postures.

Joanna Mirabel’s paintings depict figures occupying domestic spaces that often open onto a dreamlike exterior. The interiors in which the figures evolve call on the artist’s memories, from Guyanese houses to New York brownstones from the Harlem Renaissance. Childhood memories and recent experiences enter in dialogue at the heart of the pictorial surface, creating syncretic universes.

I’m honored to have been awarded the Étant donnés prize, as I am keen to deepen my research in the United States as part of a project on carnival culture, between New York, New Orleans and Miami.

Johanna Mirabel

Since the opening of the first gallery in Paris in 1993, followed by one in Brussels in 2008 and a second space in Paris in 2013, Galerie Nathalie Obadia has exhibited emerging and recognized artists of the international contemporary art scene. In the fall of 2021, Galerie Nathalie Obadia opened a new space in the Matignon Saint-Honoré district in Paris.

For many years, the gallery has also participated in the rediscovery of deceased artists like Martin Barré, Josep Grau-Garriga, and Seydou Keita. The mission of the gallery is also to promote artists to institutions in France and abroad.

Co-organized by Villa Albertine, The French Institute for Culture and Education, and the CPGA (Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art / French Professional Committee of Art Galleries), the CPGA – Étant donnés Prize awards $15,000, to be shared between a contemporary French or France-based artist and their representing gallery, in recognition of their significant artistic contributions. 

For its fourth edition, the prize was decided by an esteemed jury of art patrons and leaders, including: 

• Daisy Desrosiers, Director and Chief Curator GUND Gallery at Kenyon College 
• Julia Halperin, New-York based journalist and art critic
• Paul Leong, Collector, Officer at MoMA’s Committee of The Contemporary Arts Council, Co-Chair of the FCA Friends (Foundation for Contemporary Arts)  
• François Sarkozy, Collector, Co-founder of CMS Collection; 
• Celia Sredni de Birbragher, Colombian editor, researcher, collector, artist, critic, leader, and entrepreneur.  

Overall, 25 artists were in competition for this year’s prize. Eight French galleries were among those that entered the competition, along with 17 foreign galleries based in 8 different countries.

First introduced in 2019 and brought to Art Basel Miami Beach in 2022, the CPGA – Étant donnés Prize underscores Villa Albertine and CPGA’s commitment to excellence in contemporary art and amplifying the French art scene globally. In 2022, the prize was renamed to emphasize the partnership between Villa Albertine and the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art.

“It is our distinct pleasure that the jury has decided to recognize the works of Johanna Mirabel with this year’s Prix Etant donnés at Art Basel Miami Beach,”stated Mohamed Bouabdallah, Cultural Counselor of France and Director of Villa Albertine. “I am very pleased that this award and the support by Villa Albertine and CPGA will mark a pivotal step in her already promising international career. I am convinced that the representant gallery, Nathalie Obadia, is its best ally to give her the light and exposure she deserves.”

After Kapwani Kiwanga with Galerie Jérôme Poggi, were first awarded the prize in 2019, subsequent laureates included Julien Creuzet with High Art and Andrew Kreps Gallery in 2022, and Daniel Otero Torres with mor charpentier in 2023. 

For CPGA, which has a long history of representing art galleries in France, this prize is part of a series of three related international awards, held annually and that recognize French and France-based artists and their galleries at major international fairs: the FLUXUS-CPGA Prize at Frieze London, the Emerige-CPGA Prize at ARCO Madrid, and the CPGA-Étant donnés Prize at Art Basel Miami Beach. 

Named after Villa Albertine’s flagship visual arts program, the CPGA-Étant donnés Prize also honors a legacy of fostering transatlantic cultural exchange. Since 1994, the Étant donnés program has supported over 700 artists, 50 curators, and 350+ projects in 200 institutions across 87 cities in the U.S. and France. Étant donnés is organized by Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation with the exclusive sponsorship of AXA, in partnership with Institut Français, French Ministry of Culture and ADAGP. 

2024 Artists and Galleries Participating in Competition for the Prix Etant donnés 

Prune Nourry (TEMPLON), 
Angela Detanico & rafael Lain (Vermelho) 
Johanna Mirabel (Nathalie Obadia) 
Wilfrid Almendra (DOCUMENT) 
Xie Lei (Sies + Höke)  
Inès di Folco Jemni (Crèvecœur)  
Nathalie Du Pasquier (Anton Kern Gallery)  
Kapwani Kiwanga (Galerie Poggi)  
Roméo Mivekannin (Galerie Barbara Thumm)  
Ivan Argote (Albarran Bourdais)  
Cécile B. Evans (Château Shatto) 
Tarek Lakhrissi (Galerie Allen) 
Isabelle D (Nosco)  
Desire Moheb-Zandi (Wentrup) 
Kader Attia (Nagel Draxler)  
Neil Beloufa (François Ghebaly)  
Théo Mercier (mor charpentier)  
David Douard (Chantal Croussel)  
Victoria Roth (BROADWAY)  
Ranti Bam (James Cohan)  
Yoon-Hee (Leeahn Gallery)  
Justin Fitzpatrick Torres (Kerlin Gallery) 
Dina Danish (Gypsum)  
Henni Alftan (Karma)  
Andriu Deplazes (Galerie Peter Kilchmann)