Art Bank unveiling with Gary Tyler

Join artist Gary Tyler for the unveiling of In Memoriam of an Ashanti Warrior, 1996. This textile work was completed in 2024 and acquired for the municipal Art Bank with the support of Frieze Los Angeles. See the 2024 announcement and the city's art collection page for more information. 

Santa Monica’s Art Bank collection began in 1984 to bring art into Santa Monica’s public spaces, funded through the City’s Percent for Art Program. The Art Bank contains over 200 works—including sculpture, painting, photography, and works on paper—by such notable artists as Laura Aguilar, Lita Albuquerque, Charles Gaines, Kerry James Marshall, Linda Vallejo and other artists active in Southern California. The collection also incorporates gifts of artwork received by the City over the course of the last century, including 18th- and 19th-century landscapes, portraits, preparatory drawings and maquettes by artists commissioned to make public art in Santa Monica. Acquisitions into the City’s collection have supported many artists of the Southern California region, including Edgar Ramirez, whose work Bajío (2023) was acquired from the Focus section at Frieze Los Angeles 2023.