THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060075
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TERESA ANNAS
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
TWO SHOWS at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center herald the wondrous news: You don't have to be young, rich or lovely to be lovable.
Exhibit No. 1: ``Cabin Fever,'' a series of reverse paintings on glass by Peter Paul Connolly.
This is one of the most fascinating shows of the season - for its concept and for Connolly's original and daring painting style.
His idea was to render a selection of old photographs dating from the late '60s to the early '70s. He found the faded color snapshots in his parents' log cabin, where the Yorktown artist lived from 1990 to 1991.
The photos suggested to him a poignant love story about an older couple, about age 60, who documented sweet times spent in the cabin and touring around the state.
There's a sense of limited time together, and of forbidden fruit. This may be an affair. Or perhaps the children are against it.
Connolly did not copy the photos. He did something far more interesting than that. He harnessed the feeling in them, and he did it working backwards.
In reverse painting on glass, the artist paints in the fine details first, then the middle ground, and finally the background. That way, the finished work will be shown with the unpainted glass on the viewer's side, and the painted side protected from the elements.
Imagine painting in the eyes and the nostrils before you've even blocked out the face. That sort of pre-thinking could make even a loose artist stiffen up. But there is the whiff of rare, good instincts about these paintings.
Connolly has made 20 paintings, each of them on a window pane, frame included. The windows enlarge on the feeling of voyeurism we get in gazing at these intimate scenes. Connolly painted the frames a pale yellow, suggesting age, nostalgia, melancholy.
Occasionally, he has painted phrases onto the frame - ``Waynesboro'' or ``Why Not Take All of Me?'' This works as subtext for the pictures, and is reminiscent of how the woman jotted affectionate thoughts on the backs of the snapshots.
Along with the paintings, the artist has set up scenes from the couple's encounters. At the show's entrance, wrinkly avocado motel drapes define a corner, where a plastic ice bucket and a Gideon Bible sits on a cheap table-and-chairs set.
The Bible was opened to the Book of Job. Chapter 9, verse 21 reads: ``Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul.''
Across the room is a cabin scene - an old chair with a tacky crocheted afghan draped over it, by a junky side table with an ashtray, the woman's cat-eye-shaped eyeglasses and a stack of the original color snapshots.
Looking through the pictures, you can see that Connolly made quite a few changes, toward adding to the impact of these images.
In one photo, the woman is in a short-sleeve T-shirt. Connolly borrowed her pose and expression, but placed her on a bed draped coquettishly in a sheet, with one shoulder exposed.
Most of the images are of the woman, with the man's presence implied as the picture-taker. Trying to look her best for the camera, she often is seen holding her glasses in her lap.
One of the few pictures that include him, titled ``I love you so much, my darling,'' shows the couple cheek to cheek inside the cabin. She wears a white robe, he wears a T-shirt and boxers. While the image bears little resemblance to a related photo of the two, it has an overexposed, oddly photorealistic look.
Most amazing, however, is how Connolly was able to suggest the look of these faded old photos, the bittersweet feeling behind this couple's relationship and arrive at a loose and painterly style executed in reverse on glass, a painting base that defies control. Fantastic.
Exhibit no. 2: ``At Grandma's,'' a photo essay by Norfolk photographer Anne Peterson.
I want to go to Grandma's house. She has alphabet magnets on her fridge, with puzzles, videos, booze and fun food all over the place.
Grandma doesn't care much for housecleaning or home renovation projects. Most rooms look as though they haven't been painted in more than a decade. Large holes in the walls have been stuffed with old bedspreads.
Nobody who stops by looks anything like a Vanderbilt, but everybody looks happy just the same. There's a young boy with a disability who gets lots of hands-on care, and an obese woman who feels comfortable enough to wear running shorts. Everybody seems to enjoy everybody else, and to have a healthy dose of self-acceptance.
In her photo story, Peterson displays a very sophisticated eye for finding just the right moments to reveal her subjects. She didn't choose the most obvious pictures, either.
One of the most arresting images was taken of Grandma's dining room, with a packed china cupboard and family photos galore. On the table are the fruits of a recent trip to the grocery store - a bag of potatoes, two melons and a sleeping baby.
Baby? The point is not that life is cheap with this clan. In the context of this tale, a viewer senses that life here is abundant, overflowing. That they are constantly being fed by new life. Life in this household is used and enjoyed, not taken as precious.
Clearly, Peterson is a major developing talent. Her ``At Grandma's'' essay approaches the depth and visual insight of the work of fellow photo essayists such as Mary Ellen Mark.
Peterson studied with David Levinson at Thomas Nelson Community College. In the last year she has earned several major fellowships, including an $8,000 grant from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Besides her personal work, Peterson does publicity photographs for Virginia Opera.
Exhibits continue through next Sunday at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, 101 Museum Drive, Newport News. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free. 596-8175. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
``I love you so much, my darling,'' reverse painting on glass by
Peter Paul Connolly, is at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.
Anne Peterson's photographic essay ``At Grandma's'' is also on view
at the Peninsula center.
by CNB