Artadia is pleased to announce the 2021 Los Angeles Artadia Awardees:
Adee Roberson will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds supported by Capital Group Private Client Services; Paul Sepuya was selected as the recipient of the Angeles Art Fund Artadia Award and will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds; and Sichong Xie 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.
The decision followed an extensive jury process, culminating in a virtual studio visit with Jurors Taylor Renee Aldridge, Visual Arts Curator, California African American Museum in Los Angeles, and Beth Malone, Independent Curator and Executive Director of Dashboard in Atlanta.
On being an Artadia juror, Taylor notes, “As a newcomer to California, it was a great pleasure jurying the 2021 Los Angeles Artadia awards. Throughout the process, I was exposed to an impressive group of artists in the city who are working in a variety of mediums and ideas.”
Of the Awardees, Beth states, “I was awe-struck by Sichong. Her collaborative spirit, workmanship and storytelling were incredibly moving to me. Her projects weave narratives that are, at once, poignantly singular and wholly universal — a seemingly impossible feat.”
Regarding Adee’s work Taylor notes, “Roberson’s eye for composition is distinct and strong. The fact that share pairs music, painting, and printing making with punk impulses and familial lore makes the work even more enjoyable and fun. I’m excited to see her continue to play and stumble into various forms of artmaking and the personal and cultural histories that guide her work,” and of Paul’s work she states, “Sepuya’s consideration of the subject in photography, and his desire to trouble the site of authorship in this canon of capture, is very interesting and necessary, as we continue to rely more and more on tropes of representation. His technical expertise helps to trouble the ruse of visibility, and he is asking questions about portraiture that we should all be considering in this moment.”
In addition to Roberson, Sepuya and Xie, this year’s finalists for the award included Jasmine Orpilla, Pamela J. Peters and Yoshie Sakai, selected by Taylor Renee Aldridge, Visual Arts Curator, California African American Museum, Los Angeles; Erika Umali, Assistant Curator of Collections, Brooklyn Museum, New York; and Yao Wu, Jane Chance Carroll Curator of Asian Art, Smith College Museum, Northampton, MA.
Photo of Adee Roberson by Tammy Nguyen
Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Image courtesy of the artist.
Photo of Sichong Xie courtesy of the artist.
Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $5 million in unrestricted funds to over 350 artists. Celebrating visual artists and the foundational role they play in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits two artists annually in each of six major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. Beyond the grant, the Award includes lifelong access to a community of fellow artists and patrons. The Artadia Award is designed to provide essential funding and recognition to artists at pivotal points in their careers, strengthen their communities, and spur new levels of career achievement.
The 2021 Los Angeles Artadia Awards are generously supported by the Angeles Art Fund, Capital Group, Marciano Art Foundation, Artadia’s Board of Directors, Artadia Los Angeles Council members, and individual donors across the country.