SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 12, 2024; updated April 15, 2024)—The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announces Lauren D’Amato, Angela Hennessy and Rupy C. Tut as the recipients of the 2024 SECA Art Award, selected from a list of 16 finalists. Biographies of the three 2024 SECA Awardees are included below.
WHEN:
The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition will be presented December 14, 2024–May 25, 2025, in SFMOMA’s Art of California galleries on Floor 2. Each artist will have a dedicated gallery.
CURATORS:
The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition at SFMOMA is curated by Maria Castro, assistant curator of painting and sculpture, and Shana Lopes, assistant curator of photography.
“We were honored to spend time with each of the 16 SECA Art Award finalists through our studio visits,” Castro and Lopes commented. “The experience was a testament to the incredible talent, vibrancy, and diversity of creative practices in the Bay Area today. We are looking forward to continuing the process and to working closely with Lauren D’Amato, Angela Hennessy and Rupy C. Tut on the exhibition opening this December.”
WHAT:
Since 1967, the SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art) Art Award has honored Bay Area artists with an exhibition at SFMOMA and an accompanying publication. The award honors Bay Area artists whose work has not, at the time of nomination, been accorded substantial recognition from a major institution. Recipients of the SECA Art Award are chosen by SFMOMA curators after a series of studio visits attended by SECA members.
PUBLICATION:
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication edited by Maria Castro and Shana Lopes that will include essays on the three 2024 SECA Art Award winners.
ABOUT THE ARTIST RECIPIENTS:
Lauren Rose D’Amato (b. 1991, Whittier, CA) is a pinstriper and painter living and working in San Francisco, CA. As a second-generation sign maker, she is drawn to decorative folk arts, hand-lettering, and the iconic imagery tied to her upbringing and direct experience pinstriping and lettering on lowriders. She is motivated by her intention to learn and implement techniques of handmade modes of production and by doing so explore her artistic lineage. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute and received a BFA in painting in 2016 and afterwards apprenticed and worked at New Bohemia Signs. D’Amato continues to work independently as a painter and has been the Adjunct Professor of Hand lettering at California College of the Arts since 2019. Currently, she is the Headlands Center for the Arts Tournesol Awardee for 2023–2024. She is currently working towards upcoming projects at Gallery 16, BAMPFA, Charlie James Gallery and House of Seiko.
Angela Hennessy is an Oakland–based artist and survivor of gun violence. She constructs sculptures and installations with everyday domestic labor—washing, wrapping, stitching, knotting, brushing, and braiding. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, Museum of the African Diaspora, Oakland Museum of California, and Pt. 2 Gallery, and is in the collections of the de Young Museum and the Crocker Art Museum. Her audio guides, meditations, and poems have been featured at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, de Young Museum, and SOMArts Gallery. Hennessy holds an MFA from California College of the Arts where she teaches courses on contemporary narratives of death. For many years she served as a hospice volunteer and death doula working with families on home funerals, death vigils, and grief rituals. She has received awards from San Francisco Artadia, Svane Family Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Fleishhacker Foundation. Hennessy is on the advisory board of Recompose Seattle and lectures nationally on aesthetic and social practices that mediate the boundary between the living and the dead.
Rupy C. Tut (b. 1985, Chandigarh, India) studied calligraphy and Traditional Indian painting at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, London in 2016. She previously received a BS from UCLA and MPH from Loma Linda University, CA. She has enjoyed solo exhibitions including at ICA San Francisco; Jessica Silverman, San Francisco; Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA; and Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, Ontario. Tut’s work is in the permanent collection of Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; the de Young, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN. She lives and works in Oakland, CA, and is represented by Jessica Silverman, San Francisco.
FINALISTS:
Michael Arcega
Miguel Arzabe
Libby Black
Oliver DiCicco
Paz G.
Nimah Gobir
Jamil Hellu
Rhonda Holberton
Camille Holvoet
Ahn Lee
Meryl Pataky
Trina Michelle Robinson
Arleene Correa Valencia
SUPPORT:
Meaningful support for the 2024 SECA Art Award is provided by Ethan Beard and Wayee Chu.
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The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. Our remarkable collection of painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design and media arts is housed in a LEED Gold-certified building designed by the global architects Snøhetta and Mario Botta. In addition to our seven gallery floors, SFMOMA offers 45,000 square feet of free, art-filled public space open to all.
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Media Contacts
Clara Hatcher Baruth, chatcher@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4177
Rebecca Herman, rherman@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4174
Alex Gill, agill@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4170
Images:
Lauren D’Amato, Star Market, 2024; photo: Yubo Dong
Lauren D’Amato; photo: Chris Longyne
Angela Hennessy; photo: Pat Mazzera
Rupy C. Tut; photo: Lara Kaur