Alfredo Arreguin

• National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC • Seattle Art Museum • Smithsonian American Art Museum - see Sueno (Dream: Eve Before Adam) and Encantación, from the National Chicano Screenprint Taller, 1988-1989.

Arreguín's work has received wide recognition. As a representative for the United States, Arreguín won the 1979 "Palm of the People Award" at the International Festival of Painting in France. The following year, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts fellowship. His success led him to serve on the Seattle Arts Commission from 1980-1982. In 1986, he was the recipient of the Governor’s Art Award from the state of Washington." In 1988, he was asked to design the official White House Easter egg. Arreguín painted Mi Amigo Ray, as tribute to his friend and poet Raymond Carver. That image appeared as the cover art for Carver's final published book of poetry, A New Path to the Waterfall. Carver's wife, poet Tess Gallagher, wrote the foreword for professor Lauro Flores' book on Arreguín. In 1992, Arreguín designed the poster marking the 20th anniversary of Seattle's El Centro de la Raza, a cultural center created by student and community activism in 1972. One of El Centro's founders, Roberto Maestas, described Arreguín's impact on regional art, saying “because of his political statements and his artistic talent, Alfredo has helped put Washington on the map. He has paved the way for appreciation for other Chicano artists. He is the dean of Latino art in the entire Northwest.” Arreguín's work has been described as neo-Ornamentalism, Pattern Painting, or as a Pattern and Decoration style. His paintings have been compared to other artists such as Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, Kim MacConnell, Miriam Schapiro. While at the University of Washington, he studied under Alden Mason. His techniques were also strongly guided by feedback given to him by Elmer Bischoff. In 1995, the federal government of Mexico awarded him the Ohtli Award awarded to those "who have distinguished themselves for their work for many years for the benefit of the community of Mexican origin abroad, in any field of human endeavor." His work was described by the award as an example of a "prominent Mexican artist whose pictorial works have been widely recognized as expressions of the culture of Mexico." His style relied on small brush strokes that built up to cover large canvases, which meant that an individual painting could take weeks or months. Arreguin's work is held in the permanent collection of museums around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery (United States) and the National Academy of Sciences. His influence on Latin American art has led to his work being acquired by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, The Mexican Museum in San Francisco and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The U.S. State Department holds his work in embassies in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and Karachi, Pakistan. Arreguín had his first solo show in 1977, at The Mexican Museum. He went on to have more than 40 solo exhibitions, including a number of retrospectives. His most recent retrospective was the 2022 show "Arreguín: Painter from the New World" at the Museum of Northwest Art. Arreguín was commissioned by the Washington State Supreme Court to paint a portrait of Chief Justice Steven González. He painted the portrait of Charles Z. Smith (in 2014), the court's first African American justice. The Seattle Law School commissioned Arreguín for the portrait of Mary Yu, who was the first openly gay justice. She was also the first Latina and Chinese American justice for the state court. These portraits now hang in the state's Temple of Justice. One of Arreguín's paintings ("Las Garzas") hangs in the office of University of Washington president Ana Mari Cauce. “Las Garzas” depicts herons flying across a starry mosaic sky and wading through seemingly bioluminescent water. Cauce noted that “Alfredo Arreguín filled the world with beauty,” and that “he made my spirit soar like the breaching orcas in his paintings.”