SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014

Love Songs, Sella-Granata Art Gallery Tuscaloosa, Al Curator: Sarah Marshall

2013

Form Here To There, site specific installation, Project Row House, Huston, TX Director: Ryan Dennis

Blinded, Beta Pictoris Gallery, Birmingham, AL
Director: Gudio Maus

From Here To There, site specific installation, Georgia College Art Gallery, Greensboro, GA
Director: Shannon Morris

Love Songs, Carmen Wiedenhoeft Gallery, Denver, CO Director: Carmen Wiedenhoeft

2012

Love Songs, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA Director: Richard Nesbitt

2011

From Here To There, site specific installation, Usdan Gallery, Bennington, VT
Director: Bennington College gallery committee

From Here To There, site specific installation, SELU Contemporary Art Gallery, Hammond, LA
Director: Dale Newkirk

2010

From Here To There, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA
Director: Richard Nesbitt

2008

Space Between, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA
Director: Richard Nesbitt

2007

Love, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL
Director: Wendy Jarvis

2006

Love, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA Director: Richard Nesbitt

2005

Heartlands, Rike Center Gallery, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH Director: Jeffrey Jones

2004

Heartlands, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL Director: Wendy Jarvis

Heartlands, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA Director: Richard Nesbitt

2003

States Apart, Bonsack Gallery, St. Louis, MO Director: Kurt Perschke

Derek Cracco: Recent Work, Isis Gallery,
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
Invited by: Maria Tomasula, Professor of Photography, University of Notre Dame

2002

Homecoming, D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA Director: Richard Nesbitt

Bones 2002, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Director: Bret Levine

2001

Bones 2001, Shades Gallery of Contemporary Art, Birmingham, AL Director: Mary Meadows

Predator Prey Series, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL Director: Wendy Jarvis

1999

Nature Versus Nurture, Isis Gallery, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN Curator: Thorsten Dennerline

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018

Stand Out Prints 2018, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis MN

Juror: Crawford Alexander Mann, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Work: Looking for a Strong Women

Dab Art Gallery, Ventura, Ca
Work: Too Many Fish In The Sea, The Rascals

2018 SECAC Juried Exhibition, Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, University of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Juror: Peter Baldaia, Curator at the Huntsville Museum of Art., Work: Dawn

31st Annual McNeese National Works On Paper Exhibition, Grand Gallery, McNeese University Juror: Benjamin Hickey, Curator Masur Museum of Art, Work: I’m Looking For A Strong Women

2017

Red Clay Survey, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL Juror: Gerry Bergstein Work: Flash

2017 International juried exhibition, The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ Juror: Randy Meador Work: Flash

HotLanta, 2017 SGC Conference, Atlanta, GA Work: Hotlants Silk screen

Pin up, OFFspace, San Francisco, CA
Work: From Here To There wallpaper installation

2016

Abstract 3, Gallery 25N, New York, NY
Jurors: Dr. Sherry Mayo, Director, Center for the Digital Arts Westchester College, NY

Dr. William Ralph, Artist/ Educator/ Mathematics Researcher Edward A. Burke,
Artist/ Galleries/ Curator/ Teacher

60 Americans, Makeshift Museum, Los Angeles, CA Curator: Terrence Sanders

Southeast Regional, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA Juror: Deanna Sirlin artist and curator

Peep Show, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA Juror: Kate Kunau, Associate Curator Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

12th National Juried exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY Juror: Carmen del Valle Hermo Assistant Curator Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY

2014

Multiple Methods: A Print Exhibition, Space One Eleven, Birmingham, AL Directors: Peter Prince and Anne Arrasmith

2013

Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Beta Pictoris Gallery Houston, TX Director: Gudio Maus

ArtPadSF Art Fair, Beta Pictoris Gallery San Francisco, CA Director: Gudio Maus

Open Door 8, Rosalux Gallery,
Minneapolis, MN Juror: Christina Chang, Curator, Minnesota Museum of American Art

Alabama/ Texas Artist Exchange, Space One Eleven, Birmingham, AL Directors: Peter Prince and Anne Arrasmith

2012

LOVE, Arthur M. Berger Art Gallery's, Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY Curated: Christine Dehne & Charles McGill

Thirty Years of Printmaking At LSU, Ogden Museum, New Orleans, LA Curated: Kimberly Arp, Professor of Printmaking, Louisiana State University

Sixth Annual Louisiana Fine Art Showcase Exhibition, Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery,
Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA Director: Dale Newkirk

ArtPadSF Art Fair, Beta Pictoris Gallery San Francisco, CA Director: Gudio Maus

2011

Pulp: Works on and with paper, Beta Pictoris Gallery, Birmingham, AL Director: Guido Maus

2010

The Kinsey Institute’s 2010 Juried Art Show, Bloomington, In Juror: Betsy Stirratt and Garry Milius

Pressure: A National Printmaking Exhibition, SLU Contemporary Art Gallery, Hammond, LA
Director: Dale Newkirk

TKAM 2010: To Kill a Mockingbird- Awakening America’s Conscience, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL Director: Robert C. Stewart

2009

Expo Book Art, Centro Cultural, Casa del Omar, Chile

Print exchange, Usdam Gallery,
Bennington College, Bennington, VT
Curator: Bennington college gallery committee

Satisfaction Town (Angel *uck Portfolio), Southern Graphics Council print exhibition Chicago, IL Curators: Curtis Readel and Michael McGovern

Print exchange, Southern Graphics Council print exhibition, Chicago, IL Curator: Thorsten Dennerline

2008

Group Exhibition, Galleri Jarsbo, Aarhus, Denmark Director: Gitte Jarbo

2007

Wrong Time, Wrong Place, T.E.N.T. Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL Curator: Willie Stehouwer

Love or Lust Steve Martin Studio, Miami, FL
Director: Steve Martin

Group exhibition, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2006

Risky Business, P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, NY Curators: Dana Lee and Jamie Sterns

2006

National Spring Juried Exhibition, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA Juror: Donald Kuspit

Made in Birmingham , Space 301, Mobile, AL
Curator: Brett Levine

Group exhibition, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ

Calendar Months and Other Printed Matter, University of Southern Maine, Portland, MA Curated: Joel Seah

2005

Group Exhibition, Platform Gallery, Tucson, AZ

The Saltline Biennial, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL Juror: Tommy McPherson

2004

Alabama Contemporary: Variations in Form and Concept, Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, Gadsden, AL Curator: Georgine Clarke

2003

Light Works, Gallery 303, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA Curator: Richard Tichich

2002

G.O.R.A. Inmotus, Eyedrum Gallery, Atlanta, GA Curator: Jess Mary Walker

Gun Crazy, Visual Arts Gallery,
University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL Director: Bret Levine

Switchyard, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2001

Digital: Printmaking Now, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY Curator: Marilyn Kushner

Photo 2001, Monique Goldstrom Gallery, New York, NY

Recent work: Derek Cracco and Joel Seah, Lamar’s Gallery, Birmingham, AL

Recent work: Derek Cracco and Benjy Davies, Cowles Myler Collier Galleries, Wesleyan College, Macon, GA

Faculty Exhibition, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL

Traveling Faculty Exhibition, Eastern Shore Art Association, Fairhope, AL 2000 Annual Juried Show, Tennessee Valley Art Center, Tuscumbia, AL

Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences Juried Annual, Love Ladies, NJ

D.O.C.S. Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA Director: Richard Nesbitt

Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL

1999

36th Juried Exhibition, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY

Americas 2000, Northwest Art Center, Minot State University, Minot, ND

Print Work ’99, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY

Large Scale Art Visual Arts Showcase, John H. Mulroy Civic Center, Syracuse, NY

DEREK CRACCO

Derek Cracco is Associate Professor of printmaking and computer graphics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received an MFA from Syracuse University in 1999 and BFA degree from Louisiana State University in 1996.

Cracco has participated in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally including Digital Printmaking Now at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in NY, curated by Marilyn Kushner, the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts Juried Annual, Love Ladies, New Jersey curated by Darsie Alexander, Assistant Curator Museum of Modern Art , Wrong Time, Wrong Place, T.E.N.T. Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL and Risky Business, P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York, NY.

Cracco has been recognized for his innovative combination of traditional printmaking processes and computer graphics. His work has been purchased by several museums and by many private collections throughout the country and abroad.

EDUCATION

1999 MFA, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
1996 BFA, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is about relationships as seen through the filter of pop love songs and pop culture. These works use collaged ephemera, such as romance novels, fifties pin ups, and men’s health magazines to explore society’s fantasies and fascination with romance. I’m interested in the way these pulp publications highlight society dreams of “the perfect partner”, by challenging and stressing the way media portrays the sexes with regard to love and romance. The sexes are given specific attributes that conform to society’s stereotype. Male leads perpetuate the stereotype of the “knight in shining armor”, “the wealthy entrepreneur”, “the bad boy” and “the talented doctor” and tend to highlight a man’s ability to garner wealth or power. While female leads follow the stereotypes of “the demure lady in waiting”, “the princess”, “the damsel in distress” and “the dutiful mother or wife” and promote the image of innocence, purity and helplessness. Working with both historic and contemporary imagery, I highlight how our perceptions of beauty and our ideas of romance have changed; while focusing on the links between popular music and our perceptions of love, filtered through the works of everyone from Roy Orbison to Marlene Dietrich to Black Flag.

On a formal level the works use abstract space as a tool to express the emotional state of romantic relationships. Harmony and dissonance in music is equated to the visual balance or discord that can be created by competing patterns and colors. In the same way the different emotional chord of romantic partners create harmony or dissonance within the relationships. The images draw inspiration from astronomy and partial physics. Star clusters and celestial sky scraps are abstracted to represent the macro view of how society expects relationships to be. While abstractions of partials or atoms represent a more micro or personal perspective, thus, creating constellations that act as a metaphor for the forces that attract or repel couples. 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2005-Present Associate Professor of Art, University of Alabama at Birmingham

1999-2005 Assistant Professor of Art, University of Alabama at Birmingham

1996-1999 Instructor: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

1996-1998 Print Shop Technician, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2007

Artist Residence, Foundation B.A.D. Guest Studio Project, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2003

Curriculum Technologies Mini-Grant, Photo Printmaking, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

2001

Space One Eleven, NEA Grant, Visual Dialog Project, Birmingham, AL

2000

Outstanding Achievement, “Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts Juried Annual”, Love Ladies, NJ

Provost Faculty Development Grant, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL,
Department of Art and Art History, Scanning and Input Technologies for the Digital Arts

Purchase Award, Exhibition South 2000,The Tennessee Valley Art Association, Tuscumbia, AL

Faculty Research Grant, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, Incorporating the

Digital with Traditional Printmaking

1999

Research/Curriculum/Technology Development Grants, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, Quad Black Printing

1999

Purchase Award, Americas 2000, Northwest Art Center, Minnesota State University Mankato, MN Works: Laughing Stock (Iris print)

1998-1999

Tuition Fellowship, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

1997

Purchase Award, 1997 National Printmaking Competition The College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ

Purchase Award, 9th National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibition Gormley Gallery College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, MD

Merit Award, Images 97 Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts Formal & Browsing Galleries Penn State, State College, PA

1996

Charles Craig Travel Awards, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

PUBLICATIONS

2017

(Catalog) La Grange 2017 Southeast Regional cataloged, LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA (Catalog) Red Clay Survey 2017 Exhibition of Contemporary Southern Art, Huntsville AL

2016

FreshPaintMagazine, Issue 11, Wales, UK Curator: Alice Herrick, director of Herrick Gallery

Studio Visit, The Open Studio Press, Volume 33, Boston, MA Juror: Michael Lash, Director of Public Arts Chicago

2015

New American Paintings Juried Exhibition in Print, The Open Studio Press, Volume 20 issue 3, Boston, MA

30 Years of Printmaking 2010-1980, Louisiana State University School of Art, Baton Rouge, LA

2012

Sixth Annual Louisiana Fine Art Showcase Exhibition, Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA

N.O.A.R New Orleans Art Review, Vol.31, NOS 1-2

2011

Pulp: works on paper, works with paper, Beta Pictoris gallery/ Maus Contemporary

Instudio: The interstellar Pulp Fiction of Derek Cracco, Birmingham Weekly, Birmingham AL, October 27, 2011

Layers of Meaning, B – Metro, Birmingham AL, June, 2011 2010 The New Orleans Art Review, March, 2010 pages 15-16

2008

Doug MacCash, Art Critic, “Bridging the Gap”,
New Orleans Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, September 19, 2008

2007

Tapestry, WBHM, Birmingham Public Radio, February 2006

James R. Nelson, “Artist Looks At The Face Of Love”, Birmingham News, Birmingham AL, February 4, 2007

Doug MacCash, Art Critic, “Broad Strokes: Best of 2006”, New Orleans Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, January 6, 2007

2006

Doug MacCash, Art Critic, “The Dark Side of Love”,New Orleans Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, August 11, 2006

D. Eric Bookhard, Art Critic, “Love and Chaos” Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, September 19, 2006

Catalog, Tommy McPherson, “Saltline Biennial 2005”, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL

2005

Benjamin Kline, “UD Exhibit with Porn, Church Images Creating Debate”, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH, March 8, 2005

Andrew Douglas, “Scandal at UD” WHIO TV7, Dayton, OH March 7, 2005

2004

James R. Nelson, “Cracco’s Art Reveals Culmination of a personal Journey”, Birmingham News, November 14, 2004

2002

James R. Nelson, “Art Uses Bones to Explore Humanity’s Nature, Function”, Birmingham

News, Birmingham, AL, January 20, 2002
James R. Nelson, “Cracco Exhibit Reveals Artist’s Versatility”,

Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, March 31, 2002 2001 Catalog, Marilyn Kushner, “Digital: Printmaking Now”,

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY Abraham Lubelski, “Visual Dialog Project” NY Arts Magazine, New York, NY, December 2001, pg. 92

James R. Nelson, “Cracco uses Various Images in Computer-Generated Art”, Birmingham

News, Birmingham, AL, July 22, 2001
Jane Longshore, “Exhibitionism”, Black and White City Paper, Birmingham, AL, June 2001

Leigh Anne Monitor, “Glimpse the Dark Side”, Birmingham Post-Herald, Birmingham, AL, July 2001 pg. B1

Chianti Cleggett, “Canvas”, Birmingham Magazine, Birmingham, AL, July 2001 1999 Erica Lynn Huberty, “The Verdict: Remarkable,”

The Southampton Press, Southampton, NY, December 23,1999, pg. B1
Chronogram, Cover Image (Laughing Stock), Luminary Publishing, New Paltz, NY, July 1999

Catalog, International Digital Works on Paper, McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 1999

COLLECTIONS
2017

HotLanta Portfolio, SGC 2017 Zuckerman Museum of Art SCAD Atlanta
Georgia State University

2010

Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA Work: Boys Will Be Boys

The Kinsey Institute Gallery, The Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, IN Work: Girls Will Be Girls

2007

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA Work: From God With Love

2006

Hoar Construction, Birmingham, AL Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, AL

2002

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

Alabama Power Company, Birmingham, AL

2001

Scott Miller, President, Miller Communications, Birmingham, AL

2000

Tennessee Valley Art Association, Tuscumbia, AL

1999

Northwest Art Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN

Syracuse University Print collections, Syracuse, NY 1998 Dr. Robert Ruell, New Orleans, LA

1997

The College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ

Gormley Gallery College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, MD

WORKSHOPS
2003

Advanced Digital Darkroom Techniques, Birmingham Photography Guild, Birmingham, AL

2002

Digital Transfer Workshop, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL

Digital Transfer Workshop, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

2001

Print Workshop, Collector’s Classroom, Magic City Art Connection, Birmingham, AL

Digital Output for Digital Photography, Birmingham Photography Guild, Birmingham, AL

2000

Workshop, Digital Transfer Methods, Recruiting Day, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

LECTURES

2014

Visiting Artist, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Al

2013

Visiting artist, Georgia College Art Gallery, Greensboro, GA Visiting artist, Project Row House, Huston, TX

2011

Visiting artist, Bennington College, Bennington VT 2007 Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

2005

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

University of Dayton, Dayton, OH

2003

South Central Regional Conference of the Society for Photographic Education, Birmingham, AL

2002

Haddin Humanities Forum, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL

Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

2001

Wesleyan College, Macon, GA

REPRESENTATION

2018 - Present Dab Art Co., Los Angeles, CA