DALLAS, TEXAS (Feb. 23, 2026) — Today, the Dallas Art Fair, one of the world’s leading platforms for contemporary art, is pleased to announce the Dallas Art Prize, a new annual award recognizing an artist whose work is making a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual landscape of contemporary art. Sponsored by Bank of America, the $20,000 unrestricted prize will be awarded each spring to support an artist who has previously participated in the Dallas Art Fair and whose work reflects both artistic maturity and the promise of lasting influence.
The recipient of the 2026 Dallas Art Prize is John McAllister (b. 1973, Slidell, Louisiana). He received his MFA in 2007 from Art Center College of Design, where he studied with the likes of Mike Kelley, and earned his BFA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999. Recent solo exhibitions include sun sundry beguiles wild at James Fuentes, New York (2025); rapt glittery beguile awhile at Wentrup Venice, Italy (2025); sometimes splendid seeming…stellar even…ripping at James Fuentes, Los Angeles
(2024); shining serenest-like wilds whirl at Massimo De Carlo, Hong Kong (2024); and John McAllister and Seyni Awa Camara: Sculpting Earth, Painting Sensations at Almine Rech, Paris (2024). Selected group exhibitions include Old Vessels, New Spirits at Massimo De Carlo, Milan (2025); The Beauty of Things: Still Life from 1900 to Today at Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (2024); Particular Kind of Heaven, curated by Ali Dipp, parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles (2023); and Chromazones at Analog Diary, Beacon (2023). McAllister’s work is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and The Rubell Museum, Miami. He lives and works in Florence, Massachusetts.
“This award is not about emerging potential alone, but about recognizing artists who are already shaping contemporary thought and who are poised to define how museums, audiences and histories will engage with art in the decades ahead,” said John Sughrue, founder of the Dallas Art Fair. “John McAllister will be a lasting influence in the art world not because his work demands attention, but because it quietly earns it — making him deeply deserving of major art prize recognition.”
"Texas holds a very special place in my heart, because it is where I developed the certainty that I would be an artist,” said McAllister. “A?ending the University of Texas and making frequent trips to Dallas to visit the museums had a huge impact on the early foundations of my practice and makes me all the more proud to receive this award."
McAllister’s work will be formally presented within the James Fuentes Gallery at the 2026 Dallas Art Fair. McAllister will also participate in an artist talk at the Dallas Museum of Art on Wednesday, April 15.
“Supporting the Dallas Art Prize reflects Bank of America’s long-standing commitment to investing in the arts as a catalyst for cultural and community impact,” said Jennifer Chandler, president of Bank of America Dallas. “We were drawn to this award’s recognition of artists whose work demonstrates sustained vision and intellectual depth.”
Dallas Art Prize was established to support artists with sustained, prolific practices who engage meaningfully and whose work demonstrates intellectual depth, cultural relevance and critical resonance. The prize reflects the Dallas Art Fair’s broader commitment to fostering artistic excellence, curatorial rigor and international exchange.