Victor ‘Marka27’ Quiñonez Wins the 2025 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize
The acclaimed street artist is awarded for work that has made a profound social impact, with the award presented in partnership with The Center for Art and Advocacy
The acclaimed street artist is awarded for work that has made a profound social impact, with the award presented in partnership with The Center for Art and Advocacy
Victor ‘Marka27’ Quiñonez has been named the recipient of the 2025 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize, an award that each year recognizes an artist whose work has made a profound social impact. Quiñonez will present a solo project at Frieze Los Angeles 2025 and receive a $25,000 prize. The initiative, realized in collaboration with WME Impact, is a key element of the curated programme at Frieze Los Angeles and is presented in partnership with The Center for Art and Advocacy.
A distinguished panel, including Pamela J. Joyner (collector, businesswoman and philanthropist), and Sable Elyse Smith (interdisciplinary artist and writer), selected Quiñonez’s proposal for the award in collaboration with Taylor Renee Aldridge (curator and writer) who has joined as the 2025 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize curator.
Quiñonez, also known as Marka27, is an acclaimed street artist celebrated for his vibrant, multidisciplinary work that combines contemporary art, graffiti, vinyl toys, fashion and design with art activism. His large-scale murals reflect his cultural heritage and pay homage to the legacy of the Mexican Masters – Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Siqueiros, collectively known as Los Tres Grandes (the three greats). Inspired by the empowerment of marginalized communities and the fight for representation, Quiñonez’s art serves as a powerful platform for social change.
Marka27’s work spans paintings, murals, mixed-media pieces and private commissions, all reflecting his signature ‘neo-indigenous’ style, which blends the energy of street and pop culture with Mexican and Indigenous aesthetics. In 2025, he is set to unveil a traveling solo exhibition with Boston University’s Stone Gallery curated by Kate Fowle, a large-scale public art installation for The Shed in New York City, and a public art installation with PRISM: Seeing Beyond Mass Incarceration at PRISM in Cleveland. Quiñonez received the Center for Art and Advocacy’s Right of Return Fellowship in 2022.
Frieze Los Angeles 2025 will spotlight Quiñonez’s artistic vision, debuting his ‘I.C.E SCREAM’ series – a collection of paintings and sculptural installations confronting the immigrant experience and speaking to the beauty, strength and resilience of migrant workers, street vendors and Indigenous cultures.
About the Frieze Impact Prize
The Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize was catalyzed by Mark Bradford’s Life Size, a work created for Frieze Los Angeles 2019. Depicting a police body camera isolated on a simple, monochrome background, Life Size drew attention to inequitable aspects of the criminal justice system. Since the establishment of the Frieze Impact Prize in 2022, the initiative has recognized artists who have contributed their talents towards issues of social justice, including Gary Tyler, Mary Baxter, Maria Gaspar, Narciso Martinez and Dread Scott.
Further Information
Frieze Los Angeles, 20 – 23 February 2025, Santa Monica Airport.
Frieze is proud to support the LA Arts Community Fire Fund, led by the J. Paul Getty Trust. In addition to Frieze’s contribution, 10% of the value of all newly purchased tickets is being donated to the fund.
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Frieze Los Angeles is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank, continuing its legacy of celebrating artistic excellence on an international scale.
