While his walls are covered with the work of masters of classical photography, such as Brett Weston, Alfred Steiglitz and Minor White, Stephen Paternite's own work represents diverse, in fact, sometimes contradictory, interests. His black-and- white photography shows the influence of the photographers he collects. The work in this exhibition, however, is derived entirely from different sources.

The photographs seen here are the product of interests which have fascinated Paternite for years: horror films and animals. As a child, living in Akron, Ohio, he and his brothers were sure to see every horror film that came to the movie theaters. He remembers both having loved them and having been horrified by them. This dichotomy continues to this day in his work. He also was, and still is, intrigued by special effects in film. Now 35, the photographer has graduated to analyzing them more closely on his video cassette recorder at home.

Clearly derived from the genere of horror films are the early self-portrait images from 1977 and the prismatic images of masked, composite faces from 1985 to 1986. Paternite has chosen to use Polaroid materials because of their malleability and immediacy. On the early SX-70 film, the emulsion could be manipulated with a blunt instrument to distort the image. His 1977 self-portraits are neither the result of narcissism nor an attempt to be immortalized. He gleefully distorts and mutilates his own face for the sheer delight of experiencing the magic and fantastic nature of photography. Because the artifice is not readily detectable, these images produce a visceral reaction to their grotesque nature.

Starting in 1985, the work became involved with techniques that transformed the subjects with make-up and masks, as well as camera techniques that altered the image by the use of a prismatic lens attachment. These techniques remove us further from reality to place us in the playfully bizarre world of Paternite's imagination. Polaroid's characteristically intensified color and plasticity of surface add to the cartoonish, celluloid qualities of the image. As if one ghoulish face was not enough, the prismatic effect created new forms and patterns by merging figures and by repeating lines, shapes and colors.

Since these images are totally contrived, the Polaroid process is an advantageous way of working. The instantaneous development allows the photographer to immediately assess the results and to re -work the image, if necessary, to his satisfaction.

The viewer has to shift gears when looking at the images of "Road Kills". A sense of humor and the obviousness of the technique prevent us from reacting with real horror to the "monster" images. At first these images may startle us, but later, they challenge us to figure out how they were made. Dead animals, along the side of the road, vernacularly called "Road Kills", are a common sight in the United States, a culture obsessed with the automobile and with speed. Ours is also a culture which does not often take the time to ponder the effect of the path it forges. In Paternite's "Road Kill" photographs, art does not serve beauty.

Paternite selects a sampling of disemboweled, squashed, and thrashed animals. Using photography primarily as a documentary tool, we are presented with a still image, a frozen moment, of a lifeless subject. These subjects are aestheticized through attention to framing and simple compositional elements.

We may catch a glimpse of these animals with our peripheral vision as we speed down the road. That image may remain as an afterimage, but we do our best not to remember, as it is too disturbing. Paternite forces us to look at it again, not just for a split second, but for long enough to respond to our feelings.When we do, we may feel a mixture of disgust, pity, or sadness. Perhaps, on another level, we may have a scientific curiosity or a perverse interest in death. These images make us question our relationship to the environment. The animals' innocence and vulnerability is painfully clear: they have died in a brutal and violent way.

Paternite has been intrigued with animals since childhood, beginning with a Field Guide to Mammals at age 5 and a course in taxidermy at age 14. He has been photographing road kills since 1973 and continues to this day. This obsession is also incorporated into sculptures he makes out of various animal parts found along the road or ordered from taxidermy supply houses.

His ability to confront these dead animals stems from a genuine curiosity about them and from a self-imposed aesthetic distance. He may have been partially desensitized to the gore by a three month stint as assistant to a pathologist in 1976. Paternite states that "there is strong imagery going on along the side of the road", "and that" "ugly things can be just as intriguing as beautiful things". Ironically, the photographer's black-and-white photography emphasizes beauty in nature, following in the straight landscape tradition. Paternite feels he needs one to balance the other.

In addition to the Polaroids, this exhibition includes three Ektacolor prints. "Ask me about Road Kills", 1987, is a humorous, bizarre, and disturbing self-portrait. This image and the other two Ektacolor photographs are the most complex in the show in terms of technique and content. In these works, Paternite revels in his constructed realities, even employing the skills of a professional mask-maker in "Trolling for 'Cuda" and "Brat Man". Tableaux are created in the studio with surreal assemblages of objects. These are then skillfully lit. The artist adds an overlay of silk-screen printing on the top of the Ektacolor, which produces an interesting change in the surface of the print.

Paternite is partner in a commercial and fine art serigraphy studio which specializes in fine, precision work. His attention to detail and craftsmanship is evident in all his endeavors, both commercial and artistic. As a student at the Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, his studies included painting, sculpture, and drawing as well as photography. It is intriguing to see how all of his interests, attitudes and skills join together in whatever medium he chooses. Unlike his black-and white work and the Ektacolor pieces, which are meticulously printed, the Polaroid process is a release-- the process lends itself to experimentation.

It is impressive that Paternite is able to devote so much energy to his art, despite a difficult work schedule. His secret is that everything he does, including his commercial screen printing, feeds into his artistic work. Stephen Paternite's art embraces the commercial and the artistic, the beautiful and the grotesque, black-and-white and color. These opposites, held in a delicate balance, attest to the diversity of his talent.