"Domenic Cretara: Portals"
2001-05-11 until 2001-07-08
Frye Art Museum
Seattle, WA, USA

Boston artist, Domenic Cretara makes his first Seattle exhibition at the Frye this spring. Cretara's recent paintings continue to brandish artistic devices drawn from the classical figurative tradition. Then he pushes the envelope of contemporary practice with thorny issues of identity. A major theme in this exhibition includes the doorways of his childhood -literally. These works will be on display at the Frye Art Museum, May 11 - July 8. 

Cretara is a professor of art at California State University, Long Beach, and has participated in many exhibitions across the United States. His works are in public and private collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Art Institute of Boston; and the McBall Corporation, Chicago.

Well known nationally for his bold and dramatic tableaux of human struggles, Cretara has now turned his technical bravura to his own personal history in three series. The Portal series highlights doors representing doorways to the Italian American neighborhood in East Boston, where the artist spent his childhood. The Family series explores scenes and influential individuals in the artist’s life, including his parents, grandparents, and Italian movie celebrities of the 1950s. 

In his Outsiders series, Cretara pays homage to his own youthful imagination, which gave free reign to exotic figures and stories. Despite their lack of social status, the outsiders of Cretara’s creations manage to retain dignity and grace in the face of an inhospitable culture.

IMAGE:
Domenic Cretara,
Marra in Costume, 1999,
oil on canvas, 54 x 38inches.
Courtesy of the artist.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Washington

Other Important Exhibitions in Seattle