*Spike Lee is 50 grand richer after receiving the Wexner Center Foundation's Wexner Prize, which recognizes innovation, quality and integrity among artists.      

       The silver hammer sculpture, along with $50,000, were presented to the 50-year-old filmmaker by Abigail Wexner, wife of Les Wexner, founder, chairman and chief executive of Columbus-based clothing and specialty products retailer Limited Brands Inc, reports the Associated Press.      

        "Spike Lee exemplifies what the Wexner Prize was created to celebrate: a bold creative spirit who is unafraid to provoke and challenge us. He tests the American mind, and its attitudes, assumptions and values, and in doing so, he has advanced American cinema in remarkable ways," Les Wexner said in a statement.      

       Several of Lee's films, including a "Malcolm X," will be presented at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus this month. His HBO documentary on Hurricane Katrina, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts," will screen continuously in the center's video space throughout February.       

       Lee is the 13th artist to receive the Wexner Prize, which was presented during a ceremony at the Wexner home in the Columbus suburb of New Albany.