James Elaine is an artist and adjunct curator for the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. From 1999 to 2008 he was the Hammer Projects curator. In this capacity, he curated or oversaw more than 80 solo projects and three large survey exhibitions for emerging artists: Snapshot: New Art from Los Angeles, International Paper: Drawings By Emerging Artists, and THING: New Sculpture from Los Angeles, which won the International Art Critics Association's award for best thematic museum show of the year in 2005. His films, drawings, paintings, and installations have been included in national and international film festivals, and museum and gallery exhibitions. Elaine is a recent recipient of an Asia Cultural Council research travel grant and the winner of the 2008 Ordway Prize for his lifetime curatorial work at the Drawing Center in New York City and the Hammer Museum. In the spring of 2008, he moved to Beijing, where he is researching China's emerging culture and art scene. Elaine was a Center exhibitions panelist in 2009.