Danielle Fretwell (b. 1996, Boston, Massachusetts)
Danielle Fretwell is a Boston-based painter whose work examines the tension between revelation and concealment within the image. Working through a language of veils, she uses layered processes—pressing fabric, foam, and other absorbent materials into thinned paint—to create surfaces that both obscure and reveal, mirroring the instability of perception in a media-saturated world.
Drawing on the still-life traditions of the Dutch Golden Age, Fretwell’s paintings engage beauty, deception, and truth as intertwined subjects. Each work presents a carefully constructed mirage of clarity, inviting viewers to question what can be seen, what is hidden, and how images shape belief.
Fretwell holds an MFA from Boston University (2021) and a BFA from Endicott College (2018). Recent exhibitions include Tablescapes and Shallow Invitations(Alice Amati, London, 2025; 2023), Human Nature (Gallery 263, Cambridge, 2022), and Characters, All (Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Brooklyn, 2021). She has been an artist in residence at MASS MoCA and is a recipient of the 2023 MyMA Artist Grant.
Fretwell lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts.