Expo Chicago Awards Prizes to Museums for Acquisitions of Work by Under-Recognized Artists

The Expo Chicago art fair has revealed the four institutions set to acquire works being sold there via prizes, as well as the curators set to receive a fellowship through another, separate award.

Through the Northern Trust Purchase Prize, the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg in Florida, and the Saint Louis Art Museum were able to purchase work out of the fair’s “Exposure” section, which is devoted to galleries that have been in business for 10 years or less.

The Seattle Art Museum acquired Mohau Modisakeng’s Phahamong III, which had been brought to the fair by Martin Art Projects. The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg is set to accession Claudia Peña Salinas’s Ahua Can; similar works by her at Embajada’s booth qualified the showcase as one of the best at Expo Chicago, according to an ARTnews roundup. The Saint Louis Art Museum will get to add Wole Lagunju’s Irawo II, which is on view at Montague Contemporary’s booth.

Aimé Iglesias Lukin, director and chief curator of New York’s Americas Society and curator of the “Exposure” section, said in a statement that the Northern Trust Purchase Prize supports “a spirit of inclusion and mission to enhance visibility of underrecognized artists and arts regions.”

Additionally, the inaugural Barbara Nessim Acquisition Prize, which funds the acquisition of an artwork valued at up to $10,000, went to Chicago’s DePaul Art Museum. That institution Auto-da-Fé (Act of Faith) by Selva Aparicio.

Meanwhile, the Barbara Nessim Curatorial Travel Award went to Stephanie Seidel, a curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami who will now receive a $3,000 travel grant.