Pernotto exhibit will feature wide variety of work

The exhibition is a quarter-century retrospective of Pernotto's art.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HOWLAND -- If art is a voice for the soul of its creator, then James Pernotto speaks many languages.
His huge downtown Youngstown studio is filled with works ranging from massive to tiny, both paintings and sculptures, that reflect his multidimensional interests and passions, ranging from early '80s satires on the city's steel mills to his current fascination with the Mayan calendar.
He blends modern subjects with Renaissance techniques, adding his own special brand of political commentary, spiritual reflection and humor. He is now preparing for an upcoming exhibition, called "Meme," at the Butler's Trumbull branch, opening Wednesday.Pernotto was born and reared in Youngstown, then left in 1973 to go to school and do various other things around the country. He returned to the area in 1980 and opened the studio on Federal Plaza, where he remained until 1994. During this period, he also taught and did work at the Butler. In 1994, he moved to New York, where he painted and ran a couple galleries, one of which was very close to the World Trade Center.
Coincidence
On his 52nd birthday, he decided to buy himself a book. "In New York, there are always street vendors selling books very cheap that you might not find anywhere else," Pernotto said. "I found 'The Mayan Factor,' by Jos & eacute; Arg & uuml;elles and bought it. The images were the first to hit me. The floating calendar is based on a lunar cycle of 28 days. If you were born on a full moon, every birthday will fall on a full moon. And each unique day, with its corresponding symbols, only repeats every 52 years. I was stunned when I realized I had discovered this on my 52nd birthday.
"In August 2004, I met with Lou Zona [director of the Butler], then he later called me in New York to discuss arrangements for this exhibit. It turned out that soon after, the guy who was renting my space here decided to move out, so I moved back to my old studio about a year ago. Everything just fell into place."
The upcoming exhibition is a retrospective of Pernotto's works over the last quarter of a century. During this period, his style and subject matter have changed drastically, and his biggest challenge now is to determine the best way to arrange these pieces so that they make sense to the viewer.
One of the earliest works included is called "The Source," which was created in 1981 as a reaction to the assassination of Anwar Sadat. It resembles Boticcelli's "The Birth of Venus," except it is a skeleton standing on the shell, rising far above the city of Washington, D.C.
"I felt like Sadat's assassination was the beginning of a big change," said Pernotto. "This was a train-of- consciousness work, a number of individual pieces that came together to make up the whole."
His work style
Bringing together pieces to create a whole is typical of Pernotto's work style. One huge collection of panels, called "Plantation Chapel" was assembled as a miniature collage on a grid, which was then transferred to the large-scale canvas to keep the proportions accurate. Pernotto mentions that Michelangelo used a similar technique with a pounce wheel to transfer images to the Sistine Chapel.
As for the title of the exhibition, Pernotto describes a meme as a unit of cultural information, as a gene is a unit of biological information. "A well-known example of a meme would be the opening notes of Beethoven's 5th Symphony," he says, humming the tune.
Perhaps the one aspect of Pernotto's works that is most striking is that they are so rich in symbolism. Although he is happy to share insight into his art, each piece will speak differently to each person, and it really doesn't matter whether anyone interprets them the same way as Pernotto.
About 35 of these works will be on display at the Butler, from Wednesday to June 25, with a reception to meet the artist 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday. When you visit the museum, be sure to allow plenty of time to pore over each work. A quick glance is not enough to savor the deep meanings of these very complex creations.
For more information, go to www.butlerart.com.