Seeing Seca

The five 2017 awardees recognized by SFMOMA’s group demonstrate the wide range of Bay Area contemporary art practices. 

- Leora Lutz

On December 6, people involved in San Francisco contemporary art started tagging their friends on social media who had won the SECA Art Award, sharing pride and congratulations. Albeit arguably superficial in its medium, the flurry provided a glimmer of hope in unsettling times, and the outpouring rings true that SF is a haven for artists that champion hybrid, non-traditional art-making—who bend the rules— their practice made all the more visible by museum support. San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has a long history as an innovative and groundbreaking museum. From its early inception in 1935 when it was known as the SF Museum of Art, SFMOMA has spearheaded a number of initiatives, awards and exhibitions including Jackson Pollock’s first museum solo exhibition in 1945, the establishment of the Rental Gallery (now Artists Gallery)—the first of its kind in the US—and in 2014 the launch of The Artist Initiative, a program that provides collaboration opportunities for living artists. That legacy of looking forward continues with the newest iteration of the SECA Art Awards.