The work of four Bay Area artists will appear in unexpected places from September 14 through November 17, 2013, as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) presents site-responsive projects by the 2012 winners of its signature SECA Art Award: Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, and David Wilson. For the first time in the history of the museum’s biennial award program honoring noteworthy Bay Area artists, SFMOMA has commissioned all four recipients to create new work and to present it outside of the traditional gallery context. Encompassing a wide range of media, these diverse projects will be installed in various non-art spaces of the artists’ choosing in San Francisco and Oakland and will be on view for free to the public for two months this fall.
Established to recognize Bay Area artists of exceptional talent with an exhibition, accompanying catalogue, and an honorarium, the biennial award is supported by SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art), an SFMOMA art interest group. The art award has been at the center of SECA’s multifaceted activities over the past half century, offering an inside look at the most outstanding art being made right here in the Bay Area.
During the SECA exhibition, Abdalian activates downtown Oakland with a sound installation of bells; Faught responds to the Neptune Society Columbarium in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond neighborhood with textile-based sculptures; Herschend investigates SFMOMA’s temporary art and office relocation through a film shot on site at the museum and presented online; and Wilson organizes a series of self-guided tours that lead to sites throughout San Francisco, starting from a trailhead at the front of the SFMOMA’s currently closed Third Street building.
This unique multi-location presentation of the SECA Art Award exhibition is organized by Jenny Gheith, assistant curator of painting and sculpture, and Tanya Zimbardo, assistant curator of media arts. Gheith and Zimbardo announced the four award winners on December 13, 2012; the selection process included a review of over 250 applications from nominated artists. Fifteen finalists were chosen by the award curators for studio visits and also asked to submit a proposal for a solo commission at a potential location. The four award winners were selected based on the strengths of their previous artistic work and their new proposals.
More information about the award and SECA’s programming for members throughout the year is available online at sfmoma.org/seca