January 15, 2009
Section: News
Page: 5A

From ' most wanted' to canvas
ART: Paul Dodd of Irondequoit paints portraits using the mug shots of wanted criminals in Monroe County.
LINDA QUINLAN

Criminals in Monroe County who are on the lam may see their mug shots published in the newspaper or broadcast on the evening news.
But they'd surely never expect to have their images on display in an art gallery.

Yet, for several years now, Irondequoit artist Paul Dodd has turned to the mugs lined up on the" Crimestoppers" page in the newspaper for inspiration for a series of paintings. He has painted men and women wanted for everything from parole violations to drug possession to theft, and his latest creations are being exhibited at two Rochester locations for the next several weeks.

He calls the works "Crime Faces" and says he doesn't have to get permission to paint them because they're "just out of the newspaper."

After all, he's not doing a formal portrait.

"I don't think of the paintings as portraits," said Dodd. "I don't know the people, but I am looking at their faces and trying to get an expression ... I'm not trying to sensationalize."

He said his aim is conveying, through brush strokes, the feelings - such as anger, resentment, sadness that he sees in their faces.

"There's a lot of expression in them," he said. "More so than the head shots you see with notices of promotions, etc. on the business page of the newspaper."

Most of his latest work is lighter than the first "crime faces" he painted in the dark style of Spanish Renaissance painters.

A collage of those darker faces forms a stunning painting that greets visitors as they enter the foyer of the Huntington Hills home he has shared with his wife - Peggy Fournier - for four years now. That painting was included in one of the Memorial Art Gallery's prestigious Finger Lakes Exhibitions, featuring work by regional artists.

The couple run their business - 4D Advertising, which specializes in Web-site design - in a light-filled home office by day, then Paul paints at night in the basement. The work he's exhibiting now was all done in the past year. His wife dabbles in art as well and showed a painting last year at an exhibit at Rochester Contemporary, a gallery in Rochester.

"He (Paul) makes everyone sweeter than they are," she said of her husband's subjects, adding that she doesn't mind living - so to speak - with so many criminals. The 24-inch by 18-inch paintings were all stacked up in the living area of their home last week.

Dodd has also painted the faces of terrorists, veterans and even the patrons of a popular Rochester bar, The Bug Jar.

A Rochester native, Dodd said one of his first jobs as an adult was as a graphic artist for the city of Rochester. He had a grant to work with the Rochester Police Department on its mugshot files.

"Then I worked with actual faces," he said. "I liked that whole kind of thing."

It may have been the seed for his latest endeavor. Dodd last exhibited "Crime Faces" at SUNY Geneseo last year.

Some of the paintings come quickly and are done in an hour, he added, while others take "a long time."

Dodd studied fine arts at Indiana University, where he met his wife, but didn't finish his degree until he returned to Rochester and completed his requirements for graduation through Empire State College. He keeps some of his paintings, enters some in shows, and sells others.

"People like the ones that look like someone they know," Dodd said.

He and Peggy were surprised, upon returning from a vacation several years ago, to learn former Monroe County District Attorney Howard Relin had bought Dodd's "crime face" of the late serial killer Arthur Shawcross.

"There's no point in just painting a nice-looking face," Dodd said. "I like my paintings to be a little more immediate and expressive ... It's the kind of stuff I like to look at. In business, I'm usually trying to make someone else happy. With this (painting), it's really only me who has to be happy; the aesthetic concerns are first."

If you go

WHAT: "Local Crime Faces: Recent Paintings by Paul Dodd" WHERE: The exhibition of about 50 paintings is split between two Rochester locations, The Little Theater Cafe, 240 East Ave., and the Printing and Book Arts Center at the Genesee Center for the Arts and Education, 713 Monroe Ave. DETAILS: The Little Cafe portion of the exhibit opened Jan. 10 and will run through Feb. 7. The show at the Genesee Center opens with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, and continues through March 4. For more, see www.popwars.com.

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