A jury panel has selected Los Angeles-based artist Erica Mahinay's painting "Unfetter (Blue Gaze)" for the Santa Monica municipal Art Bank collection through a partnership between the city and the Frieze Los Angeles art fair.
The fair runs Feb. 26 through March 1 at Santa Monica Airport.
The 72-by-60-inch oil on linen work was chosen from the fair's Focus section, which exclusively features new voices and emerging galleries operating for 12 years or less. The painting comes from Los Angeles-based contemporary gallery Make Room.
Essence Harden curated the Focus section for a third year. Harden recently curated the Hammer Museum's acclaimed "Made in LA" exhibit in 2025 and will curate Expo Chicago later this spring.
The jury panel included Santa Monica Arts Commission representative Marla C. Berns, The Brick Deputy Director and Curator Catherine Taft, and Frieze Director of Americas Christine Messineo.
"Creativity lies at the heart of Santa Monica's identity and is vital to the strength of our local economy," Mayor Caroline Torosis said. "Through our partnership with Frieze, we are not only positioning Santa Monica on the global art stage but also deepening our commitment to championing emerging talent and ensuring the arts remain a vibrant, enduring pillar of our community."
The city has also worked with Frieze over their four-year partnership to bring large-scale and site-specific artwork for public view.
Temporary public artwork displayed outdoors at or near Santa Monica Airport Park through March 1 includes Cosmas and Damian Brown's "Fountain: Sources of Light," featuring incense drifting from six ceramic heads while water spills into a basin of movable metal vessels. Local youth artwork will be incorporated into the installation through the city's Art of Recovery grants program.
Additional works on display include Amanda Ross Ho's "Untitled Orbit (MANUAL MODE)," Shana Hoehn's "Deadfall" made from a tree sourced through the Santa Monica Urban Forest program, Kohshin Finley's "...and someone was playing the piano, right?," Dan John Anderson's "Threshold" and "Terra Seer," and Polly Borland's "BOD."
Kelly Wall's installation "Everything Must Go" transforms found newspaper boxes into lightbox displays for her glass publication near the Frieze entrance.
More information is available at frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles. The full city Art Bank collection can be viewed at publicartarchive.org/search/collections/Santa-Monica-Art-Bank.
Edited by SMDP Staff