Angus Montgomery Arts has introduced the AMA Artist Award to support early to mid-career North American artists, selecting Umar Rashid as its first recipient. Rashid will present curated showcases of his work, including new paintings on India’s colonial histories, at India Art Fair 2026 and Tokyo Gendai 2026, connecting him with key Asian audiences and institutions.
Angus Montgomery Arts (AMA) has announced the launch of the AMA Artist Award, a new annual initiative aimed at supporting early to mid-career North American artists through international exposure, with Los Angeles–based artist Umar Rashid selected as its inaugural recipient. The award positions Rashid to present a curated showcase of his work at two of Asia’s most influential contemporary art fairs—India Art Fair in New Delhi from 5 to 8 February 2026, and Tokyo Gendai from 10 to 13 September 2026—marking a significant cross-continental moment for both the artist and the newly established programme.
The AMA Artist Award is conceived as a platform for artists working today to reach broader audiences and deepen their professional networks beyond their home markets. For Rashid, this opportunity will translate into the presentation of a varied body of work, including brand new paintings that explore colonial histories of India, offering audiences in New Delhi and Tokyo a chance to engage with his distinctive visual language within contexts that are historically and culturally resonant with his subject matter.
Rashid is widely recognised for his complex, narrative-driven paintings that blend historical research, speculative storytelling and personal iconography. His work frequently revisits and reimagines colonial encounters, power structures and global histories, often through deliberately fictionalised accounts that challenge linear or Eurocentric interpretations of the past. By bringing new works that directly engage with Indian colonial histories to India Art Fair, the artist’s participation takes on an added layer of dialogue, situating his practice within the very geographies and histories he interrogates.
For AMA, the creation of the Artist Award represents a strategic expansion of its role within the global contemporary art ecosystem. With more than four decades of experience and a portfolio of nine market-leading art events, Angus Montgomery Arts has long been a central player in shaping international art fair platforms. The award formalises its commitment to championing individual artistic practices, moving beyond event organisation to more directly supporting the professional trajectories of artists.
The initiative is also explicitly positioned as a bridge between the North American and Asia Pacific art communities. By enabling selected artists to exhibit at India Art Fair and Tokyo Gendai, AMA seeks to foster meaningful connections with collectors, patrons, curators and institutional leaders across Asia. At the same time, it strengthens AMA’s engagement with the North American market, where many artists are seeking increased visibility and sustained relationships in Asia’s rapidly evolving art scenes.
Sandy Angus, Chairman of Angus Montgomery Arts, described the award as a natural progression of the organisation’s global ambitions. He emphasised AMA’s ongoing interest in amplifying creative voices and deepening engagement with art scenes worldwide, noting that the Artist Award marks a significant next step in elevating talent through the organisation’s expertise and networks. Angus highlighted the importance of the initiative in supporting artists’ continued development on the international stage and expressed particular enthusiasm for Rashid as the first awardee, describing his work as both extraordinary and important.
The selection of Rashid was made by a distinguished curatorial committee comprising leading figures from major institutions across North America and Asia. The committee included Rita Gonzalez, Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Yuko Hasegawa, curator and art critic based in Japan; and Dr. Deepanjana Klein, Director of Acquisitions and Development at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in India. The diversity of the committee reflects the transnational scope of the award and underscores its aim of fostering dialogue across regions and disciplines.
That Rashid’s work resonated with such a committee speaks to the relevance and urgency of his practice. His paintings often operate as layered historical documents, populated by recurring characters and motifs that traverse time and geography. By collapsing distinctions between fact and fiction, Rashid invites viewers to reconsider how histories are written, remembered and contested. Presenting this work within the context of two major Asian art fairs offers the potential for nuanced exchanges with audiences who bring their own perspectives on colonial legacies and global interconnectedness.
India Art Fair, now firmly established as South Asia’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art, provides a particularly resonant stage for Rashid’s forthcoming presentation. The fair brings together galleries, artists, collectors and institutions from across the region and beyond, functioning not only as a marketplace but as a forum for critical engagement. Rashid’s new paintings exploring India’s colonial histories are likely to enter into conversation with local artistic practices and historical narratives, amplifying the fair’s role as a site of cultural exchange.
Tokyo Gendai, though newer, has quickly positioned itself as a key node in Asia’s contemporary art circuit, drawing international galleries and collectors to Japan. Rashid’s showcase there extends the dialogue further east, placing his work within a different cultural and institutional context while maintaining the thematic throughline of global history and power. Together, the two fairs offer complementary platforms that reflect AMA’s ambition to create sustained, multi-regional exposure rather than a singular moment of visibility.
For emerging and mid-career artists, opportunities of this scale can be transformative. Access to major international fairs not only broadens audiences but can also catalyse institutional interest, acquisitions and future exhibitions. By formalising this support through the AMA Artist Award, Angus Montgomery Arts positions itself as an active facilitator of artistic careers, leveraging its organisational reach to open doors that might otherwise remain inaccessible.
The award also arrives at a moment when conversations around decolonisation, global narratives and the rebalancing of art world power structures are increasingly prominent. Rashid’s practice, with its critical engagement with colonial histories and its refusal of simplistic storytelling, aligns closely with these debates. His selection as the inaugural recipient sends a clear signal about the kinds of voices and perspectives the award seeks to elevate.
As preparations begin for Rashid’s showcases in New Delhi and Tokyo, the launch of the AMA Artist Award sets a precedent for future editions. The initiative establishes a framework through which AMA can continue to identify and support artists whose work speaks across borders, fostering long-term connections between North America and Asia Pacific. In doing so, it underscores the evolving role of art fairs and their organisers—not just as conveners of markets, but as active participants in shaping the cultural conversations of the contemporary art world.
