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Alfredo Arreguin: Patterns of Dreams and Nature

March 23 - June 16, 2002

The exhibition Alfredo Arreguin: Patterns of Dreams and Nature, a large-scale retrospective celebrating the work of Mexican-born Seattle painter Alfredo Arreguin, opens to the public on March 23, 2002 and runs through June 16, 2002. Bellevue Art Museum will present over 60 of the artist's works from the past 30 years along with a new, large-scale work commissioned for the exhibition. Museum curator Brian Wallace has drawn work from local, national and international coliections. (left: Alfredo Arreguín, El Joven Zapata, 1995, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches)

Lauro Flores, author of the University of Washington Press publication Alfredo Arreguin Patterns of Dreams and Nature states that Alfredo Arreguin is "a genuinely American painter, in the real, hemispheric sense of this term" -- an artist of magic, mystery, and revelation whose place in the history of North American art has already been secured.

The exhibition will include key works from the three major areas of the artist's work: Jungles series, Icons/Portraits and Madonnas.

Jungles series depicts the flora and fauna of the Latin-American rain forest and the Pacific Northwest, highlighting, through detailed patterning and complementary colors, the beauty and the fragility of these ecosystems. (left: Alfredo Arreguín, Tree of Life (triptych), 1997, oil on canvas)

Icons/Portraits pays tribute to individuals who have worked for the social concerns Arreguin shares. Among them are Chico Mendes, who died struggling against the destruction of the Brazilian rain forest, and Hazel Wolf, the celebrated Northwest environmental activist.

The Madonnas connect Arreguin with his mother culture and allow him to express a sense of connection between nature and human behavior.

Mr. Arreguin will also be present as an artist-in-residence. He will work with Bellevue High School art students, creating a mural piece to be permanently installed in the Museum. During sessions with the artist, students will gain an understanding of his work and his applied techniques in mural making, creating patterns and designing motifs.

For more than two decades, Bellevue Art Museum has produced a series of retrospective exhibitions and accompanying publications documenting the work of the Northwest's most distinguished painters, sculptors and designers. Previous retrospectives have presented the art of Jacob Lawrence, George Tsutakawa, James Washington, Jr., Patti Warashina, Gloria Bornstein and Jean Jongeward. The latest of the series is this exhibition of Seattle artist Alfredo Arreguin's major paintings and prints. It features a residency to design a community mural, which will be completed by the visiting public according to the artist's design. The exhibition will coincide with the publication of a bilingual book on Arreguin's art published and distributed by the University of Washington Press.

About the curator

Brian Wallace brings a dynamic vision of contemporary art to Bellevue Art Museum's programming. A graduate of the Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture at Bard College, New York, he was Assistant Curator at Cooper Union, New York, and Media Arts Curator at the Computer Museum, Boston, prior to his appointment as Curator at BAM in 1997. He has also worked extensively as an independent curator and writer. (left: Brian Wallace, photo courtesy of BAM)

His curatorial work in exhibitions, film and special projects for BAM reflects an active engagement with emerging trends and media, as well as historical precedents. Wallace has taken on the challenge of creating rigorous curatorial concepts within the framework of BAM's experiential and educational mandates.

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