b. 1935, Morelia, Mexico

Artist Statement: “I have selectively maintained and transformed visual elements from my Mexican heritage as well as the American experience, resulting in the kaleidoscopic vision of shifting layers of pattern. My diversity of brilliant colors, the repetition of motifs, and the use of line have helped me develop a personal calligraphy I use in my art.”

About this work: Los Muertitos depicts the spirit of Frida Kahlo with the mural Feria del Dia de Muertos, located in La Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Mexico City, and painted by Diego Rivera in 1925, as the background. The spirit of Frida Kahlo continues to seduce me into her inclusion in my work. In the large triptych Sueno (Dream: Eve Before Adam), 72” x 144”, 1992, part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the ghost of Frida appears and disappears countless times throuout the composition. Los Muertitos is one of many paintings that invoke childhood memories.

Biography: Alfredo Arreguín was raised in the Mexican state of Michoacán and continued living in Mexico through his early adult years. His early interest in art may have been inspired partly by the beautiful colonial architecture of the area, but he later credited most of his inspiration to his mother, who was an artist. Young Arreguín was raised primarily by his grandparents, who bought him brushes and paint when he was eight years old and enrolled him in Morelia Bellas Artes Academy. His formal education continued in Mexico City at the National Preparatory School. During his time there, his father got him a summer construction job working on irrigation systems in the state of Guerrero, an area marked by lush jungle vegetation, which made a strong impression on the young man and would later contribute a characteristic motif to his paintings. Arreguín had considered studying engineering at the National Preparatory School, but he changed his focus to architecture. He also made an effort to improve his English by studying at the University of Americas and, informally, by offering assistance to American tourists interested in the cultural highlights of Mexico City. One of those contacts led to a dramatic change in Arreguín’s life in 1956 when, having formed a strong friendship with a family from Washington state, he decided to relocate to Seattle. There he continued to develop his painting technique and enrolled in the University of Washington where, after a stint in the army, he earned his B.A. in 1967 and his M.F.A. in 1969.

Recognized as an early developer of the pattern painting movement, Arreguín has produced a body of work over his five decades in the art world that defies categorization. In the intricate design and execution of his overwhelming canvases a vision emerges of the complex vitality of the world this artist exists within. It is a vision that is realized in his painting. The diversity of influences that collide in his works is no less than a blueprint of the wildly distinct and powerful confluence that joins to create the Chicano/Mexicano experience. Indeed, something in Arreguín’s work speaks to the relationship of all indigenous peoples in the world and European colonizers who met in the last millennium.

Exhibitions: Arreguín began to exhibit his paintings shortly after graduation and has continued steadily ever since. Among his exhibitions have been National Exhibition (Grand Galleria, Seattle, 1974 and 1975), Frida Kahlo (Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, 1979), Regalos II (Mexican Museum, San Francisco, 1979), 11th International Festival of Painting (Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris and Cagnes-Sur Mer, France, 1979), Line (Arlington Art Center Museum, Arlington, VA, 1980), Art for Collectors (Federal Reserve Board Gallery, Washington, DC, 1980), Governor’s Invitational (State Capitol Museum, Olympia WA, 1981), Gallery Artists (Harcourts Gallery, San Francisco, 1983), Two Sources, One Culture (University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1984), Mexican-American Expressions (Intar Gallery, New York, 1986), Seattle Artists (Tashkent, Soviet Union, 1989), The Meeting of the Black Madonnas (Ethnographic Museum, Warsaw, Poland, 1991), Group Show (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile, 1993), and West Coast Painting and Sculpture 1997 (Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA, 1997), as well as the Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA) touring exhibition (1990-93) and numerous solo shows. He is the recipient of the Washington state legislature’s Special Humanitarian Award (1989) and the Mexican government’s OHTLI Award (1997). He was one of the featured artists at the opening of the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico in 2000-01, and his work is included in dozens of collections, including those of Microsoft, the Smithsonian Institution, and the White House.