On Wednesday, March 27, national arts nonprofit Artadia announced the local winners of its fourth annual Los Angeles Artadia Awards during a reception held at Olivia Marciano’s West Hollywood home. Over tacos and tequila served in Marciano’s lush backyard, L.A.-based independent curator Selene Preciado and Sotheby’s Institute of Art senior fellow Alma Ruiz selected multi-discipline artist EJ Hill and sculptor Clarissa Tossin as the recipients of this year’s no-strings-attached $10,000 prizes.

Hill’s video, photography, sculpture, sound and performance pieces examine the intersection of text and images amid power structures, and his most recent work is focused on public schools and knowledge transmission. Tossin, who also creates video art in addition to sculptures, explores what happens when cultural differences intersect with modern architecture in Latin America, paying specific attention to the meaning of progress amid the utopian project of Brasília as well as local modernist building designs in Los Angeles.

More than 400 artists applied for the awards, whose competition is open to all visual artists working in any media that have lived in L.A. county for over two years. On hand to toast the winners as the sun set on the warm spring night were Artadia director Carolyn Ramo as well as Alex Israel, Sarah Arison, Bruce Karatz, Lilly Tartikoff Karatz, Bettina Korek and the other three finalists, Susu Attar, Analia Saban and Andy Robert.

Written by Elizabeth Varnell

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