About

The Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego will host the first NextGen: Graduating Artist Exhibition, which celebrates the San Diego/Tijuana art scene!

NextGen is an exhibition that aims to support recently graduated artists while also fostering the local art ecosystem.

Applications by graduating artists from interdisciplinary backgrounds were reviewed by a panel of professionals and experts in the art field. This year, the jury was comprised of Los Angeles-based artist Beatriz Cortez; Artistic Director of Bread and Salt in San Diego, Isabel Dutra; and curator at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, María Elena Ortiz.

Seven artists were selected based on their artistic skill, conceptual approach, and innovation: María Antonia Eguiarte Souza, Victor Castaneda, beck haberstroh, Isidro Pérez García, Dianne Preciado, Gideon Sawyer, and Matt Williams.

By providing space for local artists and encouraging professional development, ICA San Diego fosters inclusive approaches towards building our region as a vibrant destination for contemporary visual arts. We strengthen ties within the local arts community and create a more fertile ground for emerging careers in the arts.

____

ICA San Diego Graduating Artist Award

ICA San Diego is pleased to present the 2022 NextGen Award to Isidro Pérez García. This award recognizes an exhibiting artist whose work and artistic integrity inspires and is emblematic of the future of the San Diego art scene. The unencumbered $2,000 prize provides assistance for the artist’s career growth.

Graduating from the University of California, San Diego in the Spring of 2022 with a Master of Fine Arts, Pérez García is a borderless artist from Santa Ana, CA and Atotonilco El Grande, Hidalgo, México. He is interested in how his art work and practice can contribute to anti-colonial histories and narratives. As an interdisciplinary artist he approaches his work from a personal perspective as a previously undocumented immigrant and a “campesino urbano.” Pérez García questions what modernity and tradition mean in relation to indigeneity, capitalism, and migration.

___

In addition to showing at the ICA San Diego the artists selected for NextGen receive the opportunity to further their professional development through ICA San Diego’s collaboration with Upwards & Associates (U&A); an organization offering no-cost support and advice to artists seeking growth. U&A will conduct individualized sessions for each artist with art world experts to develop their professional skills. To learn more about U&A check out their website: https://upwardandassociates.org/

Support for NextGen is made possible by a gift from the Seth Sprague Foundation.

ICA San Diego exhibitions are funded through gifts from the Linda Brandes Foundation, the Buttgenbach Foundation, Sahm Family Foundation, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego.