CHICAGO, IL.- The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, announced the acquisition of Ahua Can by Claudia Peña Salinas at EXPO CHICAGO, the international exposition of contemporary and modern art that took place this mongh. The MFA was one of three institutions awarded the annual Northern Trust Purchase Prize at the tenth edition of the fair. Northern Trust, Presenting Sponsor of EXPO CHICAGO, awarded the Purchase Prize to the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

As recipients of the Northern Trust Purchase Prize, curators and directors from each museum selected pieces from the fair’s EXPOSURE Section, curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin, Director and Chief Curator of Visual Arts at Americas Society. The EXPOSURE Section features an international selection of solo and two-artist presentations, and elevates the profile of young international galleries and supports the careers of emerging artists.

The selections of the Northern Trust Purchase Prize by each of the awarded institutions was unveiled at EXPO CHICAGO on April 14 at 12 pm on the Northern Trust Exchange Stage. Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Katherine Pill selected the artwork for acquisition by the MFA. "Claudia Peña Salinas weaves a research-based practice with a rigorous dedication to refined craft, producing a body of innovative conceptual work that is beautiful, evocative, and compelling,” said Pill. “Ahua Can is an ideal addition to our encyclopedic museum, a work that stands powerfully on its own and will be richly generative in dialogue with our collections. We look forward to welcoming this work and introducing the artist to our community."

“We are incredibly honored to be selected for the 2023 EXPO CHICAGO Northern Trust Purchase Prize. We are so appreciative of Northern Trust’s support of the arts both locally and on a greater global scale,” said Anne-Marie Russell, Executive Director and CEO of the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. “It’s been a remarkable week, celebrating the opening of Gio Swaby: Fresh Up at the Art Institute (an exhibition co-organized between the MFA and Art Institute), experiencing the global art scene at EXPO CHICAGO, and representing the greater MFA community as a recipient of the Northern Trust Purchase Prize. EXPO CHICAGO perfectly represents the collective ability of a healthy art ecosystem—artists, galleries, institutions, art fairs, media, business, collectors, and audience—all working together to amplify the artist’s voice through their work.”

The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, at 255 Beach Drive NE, is one of the largest encyclopedic art museums in Florida. The mission of the MFA is to engage, educate, and excite the community by collecting, exhibiting, and preserving works of art for the enjoyment of all.The collection includes works of art from ancient times to the present day and from around the world, including ancient Greek and Roman, Egyptian, Asian, African, pre-Columbian, Native American, European, American, and contemporary art. The photography collection is one of the largest and finest in the Southeast. For more information, please visit mfastpete.org and follow @mfastpete on social media.

EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art features leading international galleries alongside a leading platform for contemporary art and cultural programming. Hosted within historic Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, EXPO CHICAGO presents a diverse and inventive program, including /Dialogues (presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and Exchange by Northern Trust: An Interactive Conversation Around the Art of Collecting, unrivaled talks programs for both public and VIP audiences; IN/SITU, dynamic on-site installations highlighting large-scale sculpture, film, and site-specific work; and major public art initiatives, including IN/SITU Outside, public art installed throughout Chicago Park District locations, and OVERRIDE | A Billboard Project, a curated selection of international artists throughout the city’s digital billboard network. The EXPO CHICAGO program also features an unprecedented commitment to host curatorial initiatives during the exposition, including the Curatorial Forum in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI), and the Curatorial Exchange, which partners with foreign agencies and consulates to expand the exposition’s global reach. EXPO CHICAGO is the publisher of THE SEEN, Chicago’s only international journal of contemporary and modern art criticism, distributed throughout the United States and Europe.