Artadia, a non-profit grantmaking organization and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons, is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2023 Boston Artadia Awards: Luis Arnías, the Wagner Foundation Boston Artadia Award recipient; Juan José Barboza-Gubo; and Alison Croney Moses, the Liberty Mutual Artadia Award recipient.
The 2023 Boston Artadia Awards application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career, who have been living and working within Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk counties for a minimum of two years. The 2023 Boston Artadia Awards are supported by Liberty Mutual, the Meraki Artist Award, Wagner Foundation, the Artadia Board of Directors, Artadia Council supporters, and individual donors across the country.
The decision was reached after an extensive two-tiered jurying process culminating in virtual studio visits with jurors Gloria Sutton, Curator and Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History, Northeastern University and Dexter Wimberly, Independent Curator and Co-Founder, CreativeStudy.
On sponsoring and selecting the recipient of the Liberty Mutual Artadia Award, Christina Gerber, Liberty Mutual, said “It is a pleasure to support these Awards again. At Liberty, we are passionate about supporting artists of all ages, from all backgrounds, across various art forms. We believe in a robust future for the arts, and the quality of entries again shows us that the future is bright.” Gerber continued, “Alison’s work is multi-layered – not only a captivating visual experience but engages a multitude of senses. Alison has a wonderful career ahead of her and we are delighted to be a small part of her journey.”
“Wagner Foundation is pleased to support the 2023 Boston Artadia Awardees, and to name Luis Arnías as the Wagner Foundation Boston Artadia Awardee. Artadia’s support for artists provides crucial funding for Greater Boston’s artists to stay and thrive here, and not only are these artists recognized within our geographic context, but their work is also in dialogue with a national network of visionary artists,” shared Abigail Satinsky, Program Officer & Curator, Arts and Culture at Wagner Foundation. “At Wagner Foundation, we support just and robust communities, and we see artists as fundamental to that vision and essential to our collective well-being. Congratulations to the 2023 Artadia Awardees who are all contributing to making Greater Boston home for our vibrant creative communities.”
On the jurying process, juror Gloria Sutton said, “The studio visits with each of the finalists was deeply rewarding – allowing us to engage with the conceptual rigor and material richness of their work up close. The best part of being an Artadia juror was how difficult the decision process was, which is a testament to the vitality of Boston’s art community.”
Fellow juror Dexter Wimberly remarked, “I was honored to have the opportunity to help Artadia jury such an outstanding group of artists. As an independent curator and arts professional, who also works closely with artists on matters of career development, I know firsthand how important the support of organizations like Artadia can be for an artist’s future.”
“Diffuse and distinct in their own right, Luis Arnías, Juan José Barboza-Gubo, and Alison Croney Moses each engage in a labor of art making that reminds us that visual art in and of itself remains a process of radical empathy—one that does not diminish our differences but allows space and time to observe, nuance and feel them,” said Sutton. “Each is at a pivotal moment in their careers, exploring new mediums and scales of production and in doing so broadening their audiences.”
On Arnías’ work, Wimberly said, “Arnías’ work is sublime. His chosen medium (16mm filmmaking) is challenging and very unexpected. I’m elated to see him receive an award that can help push his career further.”
“Juan José Barboza-Gubo has profound and urgent things to say about the relationship between humanity and nature,” shared Wimberly.
“Alison Croney Moses is a serious artist making powerful work,” stated Wimberly. “Her commitment to both her career and her community was palpable. I’m very excited to see what she does next.”
In addition to Arnías, Barboza-Gubo, and Croney Moses, this year’s finalists for the Awards included Christopher Joshua Benton, Samnang Riebe, and Allison Maria Rodriguez, selected by Maleke Glee, Director, Stable Arts DC; Audrey Lopez, Curator, Rose Kennedy Greenway; and Gloria Sutton, Curator and Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History, Northeastern University.
About Luis Arnías (he/him)
Luis Arnías is a filmmaker from Venezuela who currently lives and works in Boston, MA. In 2009, he completed the diploma program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and in 2020 he received his Masters in Film/Video from Milton Avery Graduate School at Bard College. He has screened at New York Film Festival, TIFF, Punto de Vista, Berlin Critics’ Week (Woche Der Kritik) and BlackStar Film Festival. He was a Fellow at The Film Study Center at Harvard University and recipient of the Herb Alpert/MacDowell Fellowship 2022.
Arnías makes experimental 16mm films. He moves through space seeking what moves him. He starts a film by walking and following light. When he sees an object or person or situation in his viewfinder, there is a mutual recognition, they bring each other into being. It is laborious work. Conjuring work. A visual exploration of his enduring experience as an immigrant person of Afro-Caribbean descent living in America.
About Juan José Barboza-Gubo (he/him)
Juan José Barboza-Gubo is a Peruvian born artist living in Boston. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and holds MFA degrees in Painting and in Sculpture, both from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Solo exhibitions include: Museum of Contemporary Art, Peru; Memory Museum, Peru; The Museum of Sex, New York; Inter Kultur Foto Art; Instituto Francés de Stuttgart; Museo Colonia Bogota Colombia; Galeria German Kruger Espantoso ICPNA-Peru; The Fitchburg Museum; Praise Shadows art gallery among others. Recent awards of note include the 2019 Fellowship in Photography from the Mass Cultural Council, 2019 Icpna arte contemporaneo second award, 2018 Photolucida Critical Mass: Top 50, 2016 Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, 2015 Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Painting, and others. His exhibitions have been reviewed in publications such as The Boston Globe, Artscope Magazine, Artsy, PRI’s The World, The Huffington Post, The Advocate, The Houston Press, El Comercio (Peru), and Lenscratch. Barboza-Gubo currently teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Barboza-Gubo’s artistic pursuits resemble the search for a mirror in which everyone can reflect. Barboza-Gubo asks questions about the relationship between the self and other, sexuality, the body, nature, and the landscape. Through the artistic process, he seeks to strip away the repressive social constructions of the self and the natural environment. The people, the animals, and the land are the source of his artistic preoccupations, however, as a migrant between Peru and the United States, he works through a lens that questions anthropocentrism in both countries, which historically has served as the justification for other forms of prejudice. Visibility and shadows animate this work, making the dynamics of light both theme and material for sculpture, painting, photography, and sound. Barboza-Gubo’s artistic practice is an offering, a revelation of the complexity and beauty that resides within each of us. It is an attempt to break free from imposed limitations and find a unique voice, a journey that reflects the very essence of the human condition and our interconnectedness with the vast environment that surrounds us.
About Alison Croney Moses (she/her)
Alison Croney Moses creates wooden objects that reach out to your senses—the smell of cedar, the color of honey or the deep blue sea, the round form that signifies safety and warmth, the gentle curve that beckons to be touched. Her work is in the collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is a recipient of the 2022 USA Fellowship in Craft and has been featured in American Craft Magazine.
Croney Moses strives to create situations and objects where people are compelled to interact, to express, and therefore challenge themselves to heal, to stand taller, to build community, and to work toward a more just future. Whether this occurs in a classroom where her presence shows that art and woodworking is a valid pursuit for young people who look like her or when she brings together mothers of color in Boston to build solidarity, support, and friendship while we navigate raising Black and Brown children to value their own identities in a white society. Bringing together people to learn, to laugh, to cry, is as much of Croney Moses’ art practice as what takes place in the woodshop and this community activation shows up side by side the wooden sculptures.
About Artadia
Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to over 390 artists nationally. Celebrating visual artists and their foundational role in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits three artists annually in seven major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Press Contact
Maya Teich | Programs and Communications Assistant, Artadia | maya@artadia.org
Press-approved images of each artist’s work are available here.
For more information, visit artadia.org
