The MacArthur Foundation bestowed its fellowship — popularly dubbed the"Genius Award" — to 24 lucky winners yesterday, and three visual artists were among the honorees: Mark Bradford, Camille Utterback, and Rackstraw Downes.

The winners will receive $500,000 over five years in acknowledgment of the "exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work" that they have demonstrated. They will also join a select group of artists, including David Hammons, Ann Hamilton, and Bill Viola, to win the award.

Bradford, who was lauded by the selection committee as a “mixed media artist who incorporates everyday items from urban environments into abstract art,” is currently showing work in New York at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. with Kara Walker, another "Genius Award" winner.

Read the Associated Press report of the full citation list.