Pieces of bits

DA rare chance to see John O'Reilly's world series

by Leon Nigrosh

JOHN O'REILLY, THE OBJECT AS SUBJECT: PHOTOMONTAGE 1985-1998 At the Fletcher/Priest Gallery, 5 Pratt Street, through October 3.

For more than 30 years John O'Reilly has worked in his tiny Worcester studio conceiving, photographing, and constructing his complex photomontages. Even after he received international accolades for his haunting Of Benjamin Britten photo series shown at the 1995 Whitney Biennial, O'Reilly still steadfastly attempts to preserve his anonymity. This modest gentleman much prefers to impart his messages through his painstakingly assembled photo collages -- which are carried exclusively by Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston.

This is why it is such a pleasure to see O'Reilly's small masterpieces displayed here in Worcester at the Fletcher/Priest Gallery. Together (with Yezerski's permission) O'Reilly and gallery owner Terri Priest searched through his voluminous personal collection and chose 21 images from several different series that O'Reilly developed during the past 13 years. Each work is an original, containing dozens of hand-cut bits of Polaroid film, meticulously assembled and attached to create sometimes peaceful, sometimes jarring, but always captivating, images that reflect O'Reilly's thoughts.

Among his earliest works is Self-Portrait, Age 7 Mos., a 3x5 inch assemblage of snippets of historical child paintings, a kitchy "David" knock-off, kids' building blocks, and a small Picasso. Look closely, and you'll find a tiny head shot of the artist, too. Childhood Still-Life from the same year employs similar elements -- classical paintings, a Weston photograph, and an adult image of himself in a childlike position -- but with palpably more erotic overtones.

Being the perfectionist he is, when O'Reilly is not satisfied with the way one of his collages turns out, he puts it away for another time. He first started working on The Bridge as part of the childhood series in 1987. He just recently reworked the piece, which is filled with crayons, alphabet blocks, marbles, and a Corot painting alongside one of Eadweard Muybridge's classic serial photos of a man jumping. Together they create a feeling of innocence that is about to be lost.

O'Reilly is not afraid to let us in on the tools of his trade. In Beneath Cupid, he shows us his seamlessly arranged pushpins, triangles, strips of glass, crumpled Polaroid strips, found picture frames, and pirated reproductions. It is in fact his adept splicing that projects his images into a different plane. The tiny intentional misalignments that he often sets up, subtly change the scope of a work to create a disturbing sense of anxiety. He even uses a number 000 brush to tint his cut edges so that they won't cast a disrupting reflection. With the aid of a magnifying glass, we can see the extent of the alterations O'Reilly performs on a particular piece. This close-up analysis is akin to learning how a magician does his tricks. But in this case, after we learn how O'Reilly does it, his finished work becomes even more astounding to contemplate.

O'Reilly's most powerful images come from his War series and his Of Benjamin Britten group, both of which revolve around themes related to battle. His War Series #14 S/1/C Lost at Sea, Anzio, Italy, 1944 is the last available photomontage from this group. In it, an old master head of Jesus and that of an anonymous WW II soldier are pressed together, tongues entwined in a steamy kiss. This electric juxtaposition calls forth many emotional explanations. One interpretation could be that these two figures gave their lives so that others might live. Other theories have been less kind.

This picture and Occupied Territory #4 -- Wolf, a stark image of a German soldier's head atop a nude body from a soft core magazine can be seen as heavily homoerotic. Yet, like Armand with its smartly uniformed sailor near Jesus on the cross and Winter with a German soldier framed by a crinkled photo of an explosion, these thoughtful compositions lay bare the fortunes (or misfortunes) of war as envisioned by O'Reilly.

Separately, O'Reilly's photomontages are mesmerizing. Together, they are potent evidence of the total commitment he has made to his art as he continues to perfect his already perfect techniques involved in creating riveting images that constantly reveal more of themselves with each viewing.

The gallery is open Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. and by appointment. Call 791-5929.