ABOUT THE ARTIST
Derek Cracco is a Birmingham, Alabama artist who received his MFA from Syracuse University and his BFA from Louisiana State University. He currently is the Assistant Professor of printmaking and computer graphics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He has participated in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts Juried Annual, Printwork 99 at the Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY which was juried by Claire Bell, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He participated in Digital: Revolutions in Printmaking at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. Cracco has been recognized for his innovative combination of traditional printmaking processes and computer graphics. His works are in museums and private collections throughout the country and abroad. This is his third exhibition in the gallery.

Visit the artist's web site.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

Love

This exhibition explores the word “love” and it’s social and spiritual connotations. Some of the works included in this exhibition are my reaction to Christian talk radio claiming that God, as punishment for the sins of New Orleans, sent Katrina. These images were conceived around the dictionary definition of the word love, with emphasis on the following: “The fatherly oncern of God for humankind” and “The personal adoration of man for God”.

The work consists of stretched canvas sized with rabbit-skin glue. Images are transferred into the sizing on the canvas. A layer of clear epoxy resin is poured onto the surface, sealing the image under a 1/8th inch thick layer of resin. Vinyl and other types of ephemera such as prayer cards and prostitute calling cards are laminated to the surface of the resin. The process is repeated with the inclusion of acrylic paint and other collaged elements added to the compositions. This process creates a surface in which the objects within the composition float between successive layers of resin, creating a three-dimensional effect in which images are suspended within a soup of atmosphere.