The Big Show 2021 Juried by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill

June 19, 2021 – August 14, 2021 John M. O'Quinn Gallery

The Big Show is an ambitious open-call juried competition of artists practicing within a 100-mile radius of Lawndale that reflects our commitment to supporting local and regional artists at various stages in their career. The Big Show 2021 is juried by independent curator and art historian Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, who selected 212 artworks by 182 artists from over 500 submissions.

Support the Big Show through Underwriting. 

Juror's Statement

The Big Show 2021 unites 182 artists grouped within communities of art and ideas in eight broad themes: Abstractions, Deferments, Embodiments, Identities, Landscapes, Materialities, Nature, and Resistance. This exhibition reflects the intense experience of the Covid pandemic and the recent political and social turmoil through the eyes of an intersectional group of exceptional artists. During this period of isolation and uncertainty, many artists turned their eyes to the landscape and to nature; others, to the freeing universe of abstraction; others, to embodiments of resistance, grief, or the beauty of others and the self; others, to celebrate and explore their cultural and personal identities; and, finally, some turned to reimagining the objects of daily life. In The Big Show 2021, diverse universes are brought together as communities to celebrate art and life, no longer alone.”

— Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, The Big Show 2021 Juror

Awardees

An award amount of $5,000 was divided between ten winning artists: Esther Delaquis-Baidoo, Rosyln M. Dupre, Cary Fagan, Tere Garcia, Rachelle LeBlanc, Victoria Nguyen, Mujeres Malas, Sanjay Sharma, La’Toya Smith, and Alex Zapata.

2021 Artists

Isela Aguirre, Josh Alan, Erika Alonso, Carolina Amat, T.C. Anderson, Asaeda, Miguel Ávila, Melissa Aytenfisu, JJ Baker, Emma Balder, Ryan Baptiste, Darla Barolini, Natalia Barrientos, Jennifer Battaglia, Francesca Bayegan, Bert Bertonaschi, Vincent Blair, Liz Bomba-Bloom, Devon Britt-Darby, Betty-Ann Brose, Valerie Burkes, Rodney Butler, Claire Chauvin, Ahra Cho, Sheng Kuan Chung, Mary Ciani, Catherine Colangelo, Katie Coleman, Paula Córdoba, Angela Corson, Esther Delaquis-Baidoo, Ashleigh Denton, Mychon Deslandes, Jill Dietrich, Kathy Drago, Claire Drennan, Luisa Duarte, Roslyn M. Dupré, Claire Elestwani, Rafael Elorza, Cary Fagan, Orna Feinstein, Eddie Filer Jr., Vincent Fink, Steve Fisher, Lilibeth Flores, Richard E. Fluhr, Amber Free, David Fulton, Amanda Gandy, Veronica Gaona, Tere Garcia, Liz Gates, Cynthia Jamileth Giron, Hallie Gluk, Terri Golas, Clarissa Gonzalez, Kelvin Goodings, Shaun Griffiths, Cheryl Gryta, Erik Hagen, Linda Harmes, Stephen Harmon, Peter Healy, Silvina Hecker, Mark Hellinger, Guadalupe Hernandez, Marisa Cigarroa Heymach, Karen Hillier, George Hixson, Clara Hoag, Wes Holloway, Hong Hong, Belem Hooker, Shang-Yi Hua, Yu-Ru Huang, Katherine Huff, Cedric Ingram, Hedwige Jacobs, Jeanne Jones, Holly Josey, Cindee Travis Klement, Barry Krammes, Jaimie Ladysh, Cairus Larsen, Las Girls Collective (Daniela Antelo and Brenda Cruz-Wolf), Melinda Laszczynski, Rachelle LeBlanc, Erica Reed Lee, Liana Lee, MoNique LeRoux, Ron S. Levy, Steve Louis, Elias John Lytton, Ruhee Maknojia, Matt Manalo, Ash Margaret, Jennifer K. G. Martin, Catherine Martinez, Victoria Martinez, Colleen Maynard, Ken Mazzu, Rachel McCleary, Pat McEnery, Falon Mihalic, Austin Miller, Riley Miller, Demi Mixon, Vanessa Monokian, Madison Moore, Lorena Morales, Suzette Mouchaty, Mujeres Malas, Elaine Matte Mut, P.M. Neist, Margaret O’Brien-Nelson, Victoria Nguyen, Carlos Ocando, Mari Omori, Ron Oppenheimer, Monty Orr, Carolina Otero, Anthony Pabillano, Evan Pardue, Bruce Park, Sydney Parks, Thomas Perry, Kira Jane Porter, Rosibel Ramirez, Stephanie Ramirez, Cary Reeder, Bismark Alejandro Reyes, Carolina Roberts, Romeo C. Robinson, Anastasia Rodriguez, Justin Raphael Roykovich, Kiersten Rucker, Janet Ruffin, Radu Runcanu, Steven Sachs, Ann Sandberg, Kay Sarver, A.M. Schaer, Wade Schmitz, Herbert Shapiro, Sanjay Sharma, Loren Siems, David Silva, Rusy Singh, Tra’ Slaughter, La’Toya Smith, Susan Weems Smith, Taylor Smith, Graciela Socorro, Gretchen Bender Sparks, S.G. Starr, Benji Stiles, Evan Stoler, Saralene Tapley, Tommy Taylor, Cressandra Thibodeaux, Gerald Thorp, Jennifer Traina-Dorge, Deasa Turner, Laurence Unger, Chet Urban, Justin Varner, Cecilia Villanueva, H. David Waddell, Holly Lyn Walrath, Joyce Matula Welch, Mary Wemple, Joachim West, Erika Whitney, Michelle Whitney, Geraldina Interiano Wise, June Woest, Madyson Ysasaga, Alex Zapata, Jo Zider

About the Juror

Image courtesy of Chisa Huges.

Cecilia Fajardo-Hill is a British/Venezuelan art historian and curator in modern and contemporary art, currently based in Southern California. Fajardo-Hill has a PhD in Art History from the University of Essex, England, and an MA in 20th Century Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England.

Fajardo-Hill was co-curator of Radical Women: Latin American Art 1960-1985, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2017, and is the co-curator of the upcoming XicanXperimental, organized by the American Federation of Arts, 2022. She is Visiting Scholar at the Chicano Studies Research Center de UCLA, Los Angeles. In 2020 she received the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant and will be a Clark Fellow in residence at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown in fall of 2021.