Presented at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts, “Joel Carreiro: A Tour of Possible Worlds” is, in part, a study in art history, where bits of mostly High Renaissance Art and the like are grabbed and re-established as a part of a larger, more color coordinated scheme. Using heat transfer paper commonly found in craft stores, Carreiro carefully and methodically cuts prints into same-sized portions—sections of mostly historic paintings, sorting them by color, image, design, value, and cultural orientation.

        Some of the compositions have specific references such as the work of Picasso, religious and Medieval art, decorative designs, and “Medieval manuscript marginalia,” as the artist likes to call them. It’s all fair game under the gaze of Carreiro. Once all the elements are painstakingly designated for location, they are transferred onto wood panels. The resulting patchwork of images sheds almost all original meaning especially when one backs away from the work and experiences the realigned colors and unexpected patterns. This transition from discordant detail to fluid form and compelling composition is the mastery of this work.

        Generally, Carreiro’s method of creating combines controlling a chaotic mix of cross-cultural imagery with finely delineating compositional edges within the picture plane. With works such as Golden Shore (2013) resembling antique cartography, Carreiro maintains the original tone of the art historical snippets in the overall temperament of the work. Simultaneously, he smoothly transitions color that range freely across the entire multitude of transfers, creating a new form of reverence. If one stares long enough at Golden Shore, a large, nodding, abstract head looks knowingly down on the land below, accessing all its wealth of culture.

        Carreiro, long standing professor of studio art at Hunter College, notes: “Cultural heritage is a rich resource to be mined. For me the most interesting images to play with are the ones that provide the most resistance. That is, they have the most highly defined identities, therefore any change is noticeable and significant.” This approach to art making, first attempted by Carreiro in 1995, can be recognized in the Picassoid series as well as the heat transfer pieces. Utilizing birch panels for support to minimize flex during the pressure of the transfer, each work has a precision not just in the placement of the multiple tile-shaped image, but also in the clarity and intensity of the transferred image. Mr. Bowling, Sir (2023) is an homage to Frank Bowling’s Drift paintings, which are successive pours of thinned paint over bands of opaque color. Carreiro’s version of Bowling’s painting is very similar in color and composition and is a striking work that dominates the Main Gallery here. One imagines when viewing this work that color was a primary concern as the artist flipped through art books in search of material. Also, Carreiro had to make pinpoint calculations before applying the first transfer since transfers are the reverse of what they look like on the page of a book. As a result of these careful choices, the strength of this piece is its power to attract the eye and its ability to deliver intimate and engrossing detail when seen up close.

        Crustacean (2005) immediately brings to mind a more subtle version of Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase. Crustacean has a repetitive rhythm similar to Duchamp’s famous work, but in Carreiro’s collage-based theatrics, the figure appears to simultaneously advance and recede as if performing some sort of ritual dance. This type of undulating movement could also be beneath the surface of the sea, as indicated by the work’s title. In either case, the fluctuation of form is clear, while the patterns utilized to make this movement are mesmerizing.

        Then, there is Azorean (2010), a piece that mimics a flatness of perspective found in ancient art and that alludes to the artist’s Portuguese heritage. Here, we see little islands matched with massive, boastful boats composed of Cubistic patches inhabiting reddish-brown seas. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Portugal was at the apex of its maritime reach and influence, and there is a reference of pride of placement in this composition. Yet this pride is depicted in such a way as to present that particular history as compartmentalized, distant, and, for many, forgotten. In the Age of Discovery, there was also the beautiful and revealing map making by the Portuguese—revelations based on their mastery of the seas. So much so that it almost feels more like fantasy than fact. Azorean also suggests harmony between adventure and environment—from a European perspective, the known world was greatly expanding in that moment.

        Conversely, the artist’s Picassoid series consists of two dissimilar Picasso prints placed one atop the other, with the upper layer dotted with numerous plucked holes. This resulting Popish/Pointillist gesture reveals tiny sections of the image below that, in the end, emphasize the edges of the forms in the upper painting. As a result, Carreiro demystifies the approach that Picasso had in forming his compositions, placing Picasso’s iconic painting style(s) in peril. Instead of being bold and emotionally charged as Picasso’s paintings often are, they become more of a patchwork of fluid and flattened shapes segueing through the double image. This new way of seeing drastically changes the original intention of the modern Master’s work, leaving us to wonder why the formerly overt elements of Picasso’s work have now become tame. Perhaps this is caused by the emphasis of the principle compositional lines made more obvious by the invading dots.

        Picassoid 150 (2020), where Carreiro perforated the top layer with hundreds of small holes, features a seated female figure in what appears to be an indoor/outdoor space. The holes, which systematically reveal dark and light dots from the overlapped Picasso painting below, emphasize the geometry of the image on top, creating a curious field that twists and turns in a frenzied, upward flow. As part of the abstraction of the subject, this new compositional effect now has a subtle playfulness. Standing in the gallery next to his work, Carreiro points out an inspirational quote: Picasso said, “Art is something subversive… When there is something to steal, I steal.” This concept has obviously added much fuel to the artist’s fiery approach to representing numerous famous Picasso portraits with something of a Neo Pop/Lichtenstein/Ben-Day dot fracturing. Seen in a large group as Picassoid 150 is here, one can see a new way of responding to a giant of modern art through aggressive visual intervention.

        Behind the Main Gallery in a smaller solo exhibition are the haunting assemblages by local Binghamton artist Ronald Gonzalez. Wrapping around the four walls of the Project Space, “Bed Assemblages: The Dreamer Awakes” is a series of small, overtly aged, and rather nightmarish, vignettes held atop doll-sized beds. With these brief narratives, the artist captures that primal, visceral moment when something in our dreams shocks us awake, leaving us in a middle state of temporary confusion. Overall, the installation suggests neglectful institutionalization, loneliness, a tin pan alley-type reality—that distinctive “down on one’s luck” stagnation reminiscent of The Great Depression.

        The beds, made up of bent fencing and wire to simulate decrepit cast iron frames, overflow with dull, earthy, rusty tones that add to the dark side. The assorted, oddly misplaced inhabitants of each bed—which range from a muck-soaked roaring toy tiger to a rusted old soup can—add a surreal and, at times, menacing intensity to the artist’s iconography.

D. Dominick Lombardi is a visual artist, art writer, and curator. A 45-year retrospective of his art recently traveled to galleries at Murray State University, Kentucky in 2019; to University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2021; and the State University of New York at Cortland in 2022.