The Annual Murphy and Cadon Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition

The San Francisco Foundation and SOMArts Cultural Center present The Annual Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, a focused look at the future of the Bay Area visual arts, September 1–24, 2016. The exhibition showcases 15 promising visual artists working across disciplines and identifies young artists from Master of Fine Arts programs throughout the Bay Area whose work intersects with emerging trends.

The competitive Jack K and Gertrude Murphy Award and the Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarships are administered by The San Francisco Foundation. The awards are designed to further the development of Bay Area MFA students and foster the exploration of their artistic potential in hybrid practice, installation, mixed media, painting, photography and sculpture.

The Jack K and Gertrude Murphy Award of $40,000 is given to an MFA student of unusual caliber with great artistic promise. Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan both experienced financial challenges as art students and understood the great difference scholarships can make in the early phase of an artist’s career. The winners of the Cadogan Scholarships receive $6,500 each to support their MFA studies. All the students benefit from participation in a professionally curated exhibition at SOMArts Cultural Center.

Manny Robertson blurs disciplinary boundaries to create visual representations of non-binary and queer people as Androids and Angels. Drawing on the visual language of science fiction to create positive representations of historically marginalized and “othered” identities, Robertson’s digital and film photographs uncover a cyber-mystic future to empower all those whose identities have been deemed “unnatural.”

Mark Baugh-Sasaki’s photography explores how human history collides with natural landscapes to create our sense of place. Specifically, Baugh-Sasaki’s series of photographs of found objects and geologic features of Tulelake, California reveals the multiple and intersecting histories of trauma embedded in the landscape, where hundreds of Japanese families were interned during WWII and where the Modoc War was fought between the US Army and the Modoc Indians in 1873.

Invoking the radical hospitality of her Filipino heritage as an aesthetic value, France Viana’s photography makes traditional symbols unfamiliar in order to track changing values as immigrants adopt and adapt the values of their new home. Mining Philippine and Filipino American historical and cultural sources, social media, myths and puns, Viana’s work re-presents contemporary multiculturalism with irreverent humor.

Murphy Awardee Andrew Wilson works in sculpture, fiber arts, book arts, photography, and performance and literary poetry to explore and unravel the threads of Black masculinity and sexuality in African American history. Challenging harmful stereotypes and representations of Black men, Wilson creates space for honest self-expression for queer Black men.

2016 AWARDEES & EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Cadogan Scholarships
Danielle Andress, California College of the Arts
Mark Baugh-Sasaki, Stanford University
Steven Berroteran, Mills College
Can Büyükberber, San Francisco Art Institute
Steven Garen, Stanford University
Rebecca Kaufman, San Francisco Art Institute
Behnaz Khaleghi, UC Berkeley
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, California College of the Arts
Hadley Radt, California College of the Arts
Rebecca Rippon, San Francisco Art Institute
Manny Robertson, San Francisco Art Institute
Orly Ruaimi, San Francisco Art Institute
Linghao Shen, San Francisco Art Institute
France Viana, Mills College

Murphy Award
Andrew Wilson, UC Berkeley

Curated by Kevin B. Chen

The exhibition and all accompanying events are free to attend and take place at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan St. (between 8th and 9th) in San Francisco, CA.

Read more about the exhibition, including artist statements and bios, here!

The Annual Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition
September 1–24, 2016
Gallery hours: Tuesday–Friday, 12–7pm & Saturday, 12–5pm

Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony
Thursday, September 1, 6:30–9pm, ceremony at 7pm

Makers, Music & Mimosas
An afternoon of artist-led creative workshops and live music.
Saturday, September 17, 12–3pm
Free with RSVP: murphycadoganmakers2016.eventbrite.com

ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION
The San Francisco Foundation focuses on expanding opportunity and ensuring a more equitable future for all in the Bay Area. With more than $1.3 billion in assets, The San Francisco Foundation is one of the largest community foundations in the country, and working with its donors, distributed nearly $100 million to nonprofit organizations in the last year. The foundation brings together donors and builds on community assets through grantmaking, public policy, advocacy, and leadership development to make a greater impact in our community. The San Francisco Foundation serves San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties. sff.org

Image Credit: Andrew Wilson, Fruit, 2016. Photo by Astra Brinkmann