By Lookout Staff

January 25, 2023 -- The City will add to its collection of more than 200 art works when it buys a work by an LA-based artist at an art fair in Santa Monica next month, City officials announced.

The acquisition will be made at the Frieze Los Angeles Art Fair, which will take place this year at Santa Monica Airport from February 16 to 19 and will be chosen from the Focus section, which features galleries that opened within the last 12 years.

"The City’s Art Bank collection contains works from a plethora of notable artists,” said Cultural Affairs Manager Shannon Daut. “This new artwork can be enjoyed by the public for years to come, and we hope to continue the partnership in the future.”

The work will be chosen on the fair's opening day by a committee composed of Christine Messineo, director of Americas, Frieze; Anne Ellegood, Good Works Executive director of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA, LA) and Santa Monica Arts Commissioner Deepa Subramanian.

The work must be made by an artist based in Southern California and "illuminates the diverse lived experiences of artists from our region," cultural officials said.

“Our partnership with the City of Santa Monica will celebrate the creative capital of the region by recognizing an emerging artist voice,” said Frieze Director of Americas Christine Messineo.

“It’s wonderful that an artwork from Frieze Los Angeles will have a permanent home within the city’s art collection, particularly as the fair establishes its place in the cultural fabric of Santa Monica.”

This year the Focus section includes 20 galleries and is curated by Amanda Hunt, head of Public Engagement, Learning, and Impact at Walker Art Center) and Associate Curator Sonya Tamaddon, a consultant.

"Focus, a core section of Frieze, is a renowned point of discovery and celebrates both Los Angeles and national emerging artists and galleries," fair organizers said.

Instituted in 1984, Santa Monica’s Art Bank -- which includes sculpture, painting, photography, and works on paper -- brings art into the city's public spaces and is funded through the City of Santa Monica’s Percent for Art Program.

The collection also incorporates gifts received by the City over the course of the last century, "including 18th and 19th-century landscape and portrait paintings and preparatory drawings and maquettes by artists commissioned to make public art in Santa Monica."

More about Frieze Los Angeles at frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles. Visit the full City of Santa Monica Art Bank collection here