For Immediate Release
March 12, 2020
ARTADIA ANNOUNCES 2020 LOS ANGELES AWARDEES
NEW YORK, NY – Artadia is pleased to announce the recipients of the sixth annual Los Angeles Artadia Awards are Beatriz Cortez, Amir H. Fallah and Suné Woods. Beatriz Cortez will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds supported by Capital Group, Suné Woods was selected as the recipient of the inaugural Angeles Art Fund Artadia Award and will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds, and Amir H. Fallah was selected as the Marciano Art Foundation Artadia Awardee and will receive $25,000 in unrestricted funds. In addition to the financial Awards, all Awardees have access to the ongoing benefits of the Artadia Awards program. Applications for the Awards were open to any visual artist living in Los Angeles County for over two years, working in any medium and at any stage of their career.
In the first round of jurying, Cole Akers, Curator and Special Projects Manager, The Glass House, New Canaan; Jova Lynne, Curator, the MoCAD, Detroit; and Anuradha Vikram, Independent Curator and writer based in Los Angeles, selected six finalists.: Beatriz Cortez, Amir H. Fallah, Arshia Haq, Alice Könitz, Shizu Saldamando and Suné Woods. Katia Zavistovski, Assistant Curator, Modern Art at LACMA, joined Anuradha Vikram for the second round of evaluations. The jurors conducted studio visits with each of the six Finalists to determine the Awardees.
Of the awardees, Katia noted: “While Amir H. Fallah’s, Beatriz Cortez’s, and Suné Woods’s practices are notably distinct, they all engage non-linear temporalities and the multivalent nature of identity in thoughtful and poignant ways. In his exuberant paintings and installation environments, Fallah deftly draws from sources as varied as Persian miniatures, children’s books, and modernist abstraction to present hybrid worlds and layered narratives that unfold over time. Cortez’s labor-intensive sculptures imagine future realms while remaining grounded in a deep knowledge of and pluralistic approach to history and material; and in her entrancing video work, Woods explores liminal spaces – both physical and spiritual, bodily and psychic – often confronting the intimate and vulnerable aspects of being.”
Regarding the process, Anuradha stated, “It’s an exhilarating feeling to be able to make such meaningful financial gifts to artists. The awardees reflect the expressive range, artistic precision, and political engagements of Los Angeles, America’s biggest “third culture” city.”
Furthermore, Anuradha expressed, “Amir H. Fallah is a painter who has reconciled pictorial narrative with the formal mandates of abstraction to make fascinating and rich images that reward repeated looking. Beatriz Cortez is a monumental sculptor, and I say that with respect to her materials, her scale, and her importance. Her works connect cultures and species across space and time. Suné Woods’ video works convey cultural memory through the body. Her sensitivity to social stigma, her philosophical engagement, and her expressions of radical love position her as an exemplary LA artist with a commitment to social justice.”
Artadia and Angeles Art Fund have partnered to establish the Angeles Art Fund Artadia Award, as we share a common goal of supporting exceptional artists as they build their practice and facilitate socially impactful work. The Angeles Art Fund connects like-minded art patrons through direct engagement with artists, curators and non-profit spaces in Los Angeles and offers financial support to projects that reflect an interest in social justice and thought leadership.
Artadia is a national non-profit organization that supports artists with unrestricted Awards followed by a lifetime of program opportunities. Artadia is unique in that it allows any artist to apply, engages nationally recognized artists and curators to review work, and culminates in direct grants. Since 1999, Artadia has awarded over $5 million to more than 338 artists in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
The 2020 Los Angeles Artadia Awards are generously supported by Angeles Art Fund, Capital Group, GRoW @ Annenberg, Marciano Art Foundation (MAF), Artadia’s Board of Directors, Artadia Los Angeles Council members, and individual donors across the country.