New award, new book

In December, Michael Sarich was informed by telephone that he was one of 20 artists this year to win The Joan Mitchell Foundation award, along with a check for $25,000.

“It’s nice to be recognized by the East Coast,” he says, noting that many of the past winners have been New Yorkers.

Amy Oppio, deputy director of the Nevada Museum of Art, ponders this fact as she sets up pieces of Sarich’s work onto a protective blanket before the actual hanging. “It’s interesting to think of what kind of coverage he would get if he lived somewhere else,” she says.

To commemorate the first comprehensive retrospective devoted to Michael Sarich’s career, the museum is publishing a book full of his work, along with three essays describing his work in detail and what it means in the pantheon of modern art.