Artadia, a non-profit grantmaking organization and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons, is pleased to announce the 2023 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Awardees: Sofía Córdova, Heesoo Kwon, and Ranu Mukherjee.

The 2023 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Awards application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, who have been living and working within Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties for a minimum of two years.

The decision was reached after an extensive two-tiered jurying process culminating in virtual studio visits with jurors Christine Koppes, Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, ICA San Francisco and Jordan Stein, Writer, independent curator, and founder of Cushion Works, San Francisco.

“Unrestricted financial awards to artists are more rare than warm July days in the Bay Area, and even more critical for survival,” remarked Stein. “Big thanks to Artadia for the infrastructure and commitment they bring to this undersung process year after year. After reviewing countless dynamic applications, we selected three artists who explore multiple temporalities, and who dream beyond earthly conditions to insist on richer, and more collaborative, earthly conditions.”

Fellow juror Koppes commented on Artadia’s jurying process, saying, “This was an incredible opportunity to spend a day in studio visits, diving deep into each artist’s practice, learning about new projects of artists I’m familiar with and introducing myself to artists who I’ll be following here on out. The San Francisco Bay Area is full of talented, smart, boundary-pushing artists making really critical work as was reflected in the five finalists, and the three Jordan and I selected are although at different points in their careers, they are all reaching pivotal moments where an Artadia award will be crucial support.”

In addition to Córdova, Kwon, and Mukherjee, this year’s finalists for the Awards included Sholeh Asgary, Quinn Girard, and Xandra Ibarra, selected by Matilde Guidelli Guidi, Associate Curator, Dia Art Foundation; Jennifer Inacio, Associate Curator, Pérez Art Museum Miami; and Jordan Stein, Writer, independent curator, and founder of Cushion Works, San Francisco.

Click here to read the announcement in SF Datebook or here to read the full press release.

Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to over 390 artists nationally. Celebrating visual artists and their foundational role in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits three artists annually in seven major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The 2023 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Awards are supported by the Wattis Foundation, the Artadia Board of Directors, Artadia Council Members, and individual donors across the country.