DOMENIC CRETARA
1946-2017

Domenic Cretara, Professor of Art at California State University, Long Beach, works primarily in drawing and painting. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University School of Fine Arts, graduating with honors. In his academic position at CSULB, he has received marks of distinction for teaching, scholarship, and creative achievement. Among other tributes, in 1974 he received a Fulbright Grant to Italy which allowed him to spend a year painting and studying in Florence. In the late 1970s, he was the artist in residence at the Foundation Camargo in Cassis, France. A Sister Cities Grant allowed him to return to work in Italy for a summer in the city of Padua.

As an artist, Cretara has been a particularly active exhibitor, with many solo exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Las Vegas Art Museum (1998), and over twenty-five group shows in venues on both coasts and Europe. His works are in the collections of major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Boston. Cretara’s images not only have graced the covers of magazines and illustrated poems but have also been the subject of many publications, including Portrait Painting Atelier (Watson Guptill Publications, 2010) and Sex: Portraits of Passion (Watson Guptill Publications, 1999), feature articles for American Arts Quarterly and American Artist, and reviews in the Los Angeles Times and Boston Herald.

Education
1968-1970 Boston University School of Fine Arts, MFA
1964-1968 Boston University School of Fine Arts, BFA (Magna Cum Laude)

Solo Exhibits
2014 Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2014 Stone Rose Gallery, Long Beach, CA
2013 Triton Art Museum, Santa Clara, CA
2011 Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2009 Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2009 CSUIP Gallery, Florence, Italy
2008 Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2008 Todd Art Gallery, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2002 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN
2002 Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2001 Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
1998 Las Vegas Art Museum, Retrospective Exhibit, Las Vegas, NV
1998 Martin Zambito Gallery, Seattle, WA
1997 Mulligan/Shanoski Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Brenda Taylor Gallery, New York City
1995 Alon Gallery, Boston, MA
1993 The John Thomas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1992 Alon Gallery, Boston, MA
1991 The John Thomas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1989 Alon Gallery, Boston, MA
1988 Victor McNeil Gallery, New York City
1987 Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1985 Segal Gallery, New York City
1984 Segal Gallery, New York City

Group Exhibits
2015 “Identity, Who Are We Now,” Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN.
Exhibitors included Chuck Close, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Do Ho Suh.
Curator: Dennis Jon
2015 “Going Home,” Two-person traveling exhibit, Domenic Cretara and Chris
Troutman, Charleston Heights Art Center Gallery, Las Vegas, NV;
Schomburg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Sinclair Community College Art
Galleries, Dayton, OH.
2014 “The Way of Flesh Part 2”
Mt. San Antonio College Art Gallery, Walnut, CA.
2012 “The Figure in Contemporary Art”
Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA.
2006 “Beyond the Likeness: Self Portraits by California Artists,”
Triton Art Museum, Santa Clara, CA, Curator: George Rivera
2006 “A Terrible Beauty: Figurative Painting in the 21st Century,”
Grey McGear Modern Inc, Santa Monica, CA
Curator: Alec Aintree, Arts Critic The London Times
2005 “The Painted Image,” Biola University Art Gallery, La Mirada, CA
2005 “Las Vegas Centennial Invitational Exhibition,” Las Vegas Art Museum
2005 “Direct Access: an Exhibition of Drawings,”
Todd Art Gallery, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2003 “Speculative Terrain,” The Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA.; The Riverside
Art Museum; The Laband Art Gallery. , Curator, Gordon Fuglie
2002 "Drawings VI," Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2001 "Representing LA," Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Art Museum of
South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA
Curator: Gordon Fuglie
2000 "Drawings V," Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2000 "Drawing from Perception III," Wright State University Art Galleries
Dayton OH, Juror: Rosemary Beck
1999 "31st Annual W&J National Painting Show," Washington and
Jefferson College, Washington, PA (juror's award)
1998 "Contempo Italianate," Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount
University, Los Angeles, CA
1998 "Artists Who Look Back: Spirituality in Contemporary Art,"
Museo ItaloAmericano, San Francisco, CA
1997 "Recent Acquisitions," Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
1996 "West: Art and the Law," (traveling exhibition)
1996 "Recent Work," Mulligan/Shanoski Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 "Go Figure," Mulligan/Shanoski Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 "Emulations: Quotations from the Source," Riverside Art Museum
1995 "Love in a Taxing Time," John Thomas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1994 "Recent Acquisitions," Triton Art Museum, Santa Clara, CA
1994 "Slice of Life: Contemporary Still Life," Riverside Art Museum, CA
Curator, Jim Reed
1994 "Rock, Paper, Scissors," University of Delaware, Juror: Gino Rodriguez,
Exec. Director of Alternative Museum, New York City (purchase prize)
1993 “National Juried Exhibition," Gallery 84, N.Y. City, Juror: Donald Kuspit
1992 "Works on Paper," University of Madrid Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
1991 "Rutgers National '90," Stedman Art Gallery, Camden, NJ
Jurors: Martha Beck and Ned Rifkin
1990 "Figurative Realities Beyond the Form," Triton Art Museum,
Santa Clara, CA, Curator: George Rivera
1988 "American Drawing Biennial," Muscarelle Museum of Art,
Williamsburg, VA, Juror: Frank Gettings, Curator, Hirshorn Museum
1987 "Frivolity and Morality: The Tradition of the Vanitas in Contemporary
Painting," Sherry French Gallery, New York City
1987 "Night Light/Night Lives," Sherry French Gallery, New York City
1983 "Selections 21," The Drawing Center, New York City
Curators: Martha Beck and Tom Lawson
1975 "Fulbright Exhibit," The American Embassy Gallery, Rome, Italy

Employment
1986-2015 Professor of Art, California State University, Long Beach
2007-2008 Resident Director CSU International Program in Florence, Italy
1970-1986 Associate Professor, The Art Institute of Boston
Chair of Fine Arts Department, 1972-1978

Awards
2003 Outstanding Professor Award, CSULB
2001 Public Corporation for the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship
1999 Juror's Award, Washington & Jefferson National Painting Show
1998 Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, CSULB
1994 Distinguished Faculty Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award,
CSULB
1994 Purchase Prize, "Rock, Paper, Scissors" Exhibit
1985 Florence Brevoort Kane Prize, in Painting
1984 Sister Cities Grant, to Padua, Italy
1978 Camargo Foundation Grant, to Cassis, France
1978 Artist in Residence, at Ossabaw Island Project, Ossabaw Island, GA
1974 Fulbright-Hays Grant, to Florence, Italy

Collections
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20th Century Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
Museum of Modern Art, Macedonia, Greece
Cypress College, Cypress, CA
Mount San Antonio College, Walnut, CA
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Collection of the Boston Public Library
Riverside Art Museum
University Art Museum, CSULB
Triton Art Museum
Art Institute of Boston
Duxbury Museum of Art
University of Delaware
McBall Corporation, Chicago, IL
Collection of Claude Bernard, Paris, France
Collection of Joel Schumacher, Hollywood, CA