Jersey City artist's ?Paper Passages? bring the underground to the foreground at the New York Transit Museum

By Joe Maniscalco -- 08/23 -- 24/7 Arts, Dining and Entertainment, NY

Chris Pelletiere exhibition is on display at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights now through September 3

Chris Pelletiere?s ?Paper Passages? exhibition is on display at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights now through September 3

Before retiring in December, painter, illustrator and cartoonist Chris Pelletiere spent almost 30 years patrolling the halls of one of the greatest treasure troves of art on the face of the planet ? but his greatest source of inspiration probably came commuting to work each morning.

Pelletiere, 65, creates collages. Assembled inside each of the 22 piece collection called ?Paper Passages? now on view at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn Heights are people you know, people like you who probably take a train somewhere in this city as part of their daily lives.

Pelletiere became fascinated with the multitude in 2003 while riding the train into Penn Station each morning from his home in Jersey City.

Almost 30 years ago, Pelletiere began working at the Museum of Modern Art as a security guard. Over the years he worked his way up to a supervisory position managing other security guards and making sure everyone who came to the museum got the most out of the experience.

He also never stopped creating his own art, working in oils and weaving fantastic comic strips.

?It was perfect,? Pelletiere says. ?I was literally surrounded by great art. It was constant feedback. It kept me going.?

As a younger man, the Erasmus Hall High School graduate studied art at the New York Studio School on West 8th Street and did some commission portraiture, but says he could ?never make his bread and butter? doing what he loved best.

?I wasn?t a very academic kid,? the artist says. ?I didn?t do all that well in school. Painting and drawing was like a tool. I always had the ability to draw ? thank god.?

Four years ago, Pelletiere began sketching the throngs of faces he encountered at Penn Station. There were times, he says, when he felt as if he was the only stationary figure in the entire commuter complex of swirling marble and brass.

?I started drawing crowds coming at me, but I found that I couldn?t do it,? Pelletiere says. ?But I got the hang of it when I realized you don?t see details, you just see a blur. I was able to interpret the crowd.?

After studying his subjects so intensely and for so long, Pelletiere confidently concludes that ?everybody is a nervous wreck going to work.?

But they?re also full of life, too.

On DeKalb Avenue, for instance, Pelletiere captured Brooklyn youths quietly waiting for their trains but speaking volumes about who they are and the faces they like to present to the world.

?I?m fascinated with the way people dress,? Pelleitere says. ?We?re in a very colorful society. People are eccentric and like to show off.?

To capture an entire city in motion, Pelletiere employs old newspaper print, cut paper, charcoal drawings and washed-out paint.

?I like to kill the time sketching people on trains,? Pelletiere confesses. ?It turned more unusual and complex when I started adding color.?

Compelled to capture more, Pelletiere began adding scraps of newspaper to his designs and those simple sketches slowly transformed into vibrant 22 by 30-inch collages depicting life on the move ? trains arriving and departing, passengers exiting and entering ? crisscrossing masses of humanity spilled out across underground platforms.

?For me it was like a new life,? Pelletiere says of the transition. ?Oil is like a job. Collage is spontaneous ? I?m creating as I go along.?

Pelletiere will be on hand at the New York Transit Museum to meet folks and talk about the art of collage on August 18 and 19 at 1 p.m.

?Kids really relate to this,? he says. ?Everybody has the newspaper, so everybody?s on familiar ground.?

Pelletiere ? whose work can be found in many other public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum, The Brooklyn Museum of Art and the New York Public Library ? calls ?Paper Passages? a ?vindication? of his hard work underground.

?It?s incredible,? he says. ?Honestly, I didn?t think it would turn into a show in a venue like this. It?s like everything has come full circle for me.?

Pelletiere has been so successful, that he doesn?t expect to be abandoning collage or the New York City mass transit system anytime soon.

?I want to keep creating,? he says. ?I?m still excited about it. It?s the city itself ? I pick up on that excitement of the city on the move.

?Paper Passages? will be on display at the New York Transit Museum through September 3. Museum hours are Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $5. Seniors and children get in for $3. Wednesdays are free for senior citizens. The New York Transit Museum is located on the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street.

For more information call 718-694-1600. or visit www.mta.info/museum