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FAIRFIELD’S AL WEINER “BITTEN” BY ART BUG

BY JENNIFER JONES

FAIRFIELD- 69-year-old Al Weiner has been bitten by the art bug ?] big time, as they say.

The Fairfield resident, who is both a professor and student at Bridgeport’s  Housatonic Community College, recently had his first solo art show at Sacred Heart University’s  Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts and now has a painting on display in the library at Norwalk Community College.

Shortly after the Edgerton exhibit, which included several of his paintings and pen-and-ink sketches, closed in March, Weiner’s  Fearless, an oil on canvas, was one of four works chosen for  display in the library of NCC until May 21st. 

The exhibit is to show the creativity of the faculty and students,” says Linda Lerman, director of library services at NCC.   

Weiner considers Fearless to be his most pivotal.  "It makes the strongest statement,” he says. “ It's a statement on individuality … about the little man standing up to a greater force."

Weiner, who has taught film studies for the past three years at HCC, has only recently developed an interest in painting.

“When I am not teaching,” says Weiner, “I am taking classes.”

When asked by his teachers why he has enrolled in a particular class, Weiner says, “to slay that fierce dragon of ineptitude.”

“I am always seeking new opportunities to learn,” says Weiner, “I look at each one as an adventure, a step in self-actualization.”

Weiner’s new adventure in painting has provided an opportunity for him to express his ideas. He says of his work, “I am not out to paint pretty pictures, I try to say something in everything I do.”

“I want to make people think, laugh, and ponder,” he adds, “and ask what is this about? What does it mean?”

Many of Weiner’s paintings have hidden meanings, things you don’t see at first glance.

“In The Pain of Perversity,” Weiner says, “the dual nature of perversion is explored, though if you don’t look closely, you won’t grasp it.”

A pen-and-ink sketch, titled Beyond Evil, shows a grinning lamp with a butterfly net attempting to capture flying light bulbs.

“The bulbs represent living creatures,” says Weiner, “the lamp does not need them but wants to capture them for his own enjoyment.”

 In this, Weiner asks “what is evil?” and he says the drawing “could be analogous to the holocaust.”

Voyeurs, an oil on canvas, is “a lighthearted take on sexuality,” Weiner says, “a humorous look at part of the human condition.”

Weiner has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing, and has over the years explored many facets of his creative side, conquering many fierce dragons. He has written songs, poetry and freelance articles, and is now in the process of forming a 4 to 5 piece band that will perform rock and roll songs of the past 50 years.

But with whatever bugs that happen to bite in the future, the art bug is here to stay. "I plan to express myself through art the rest of my life,” says Weiner, who is now is exploring a new style of painting called subliminal art, and working on a series of paintings depicting issues in Africa.

Weiner credits Housatonic for his recent successes. “HCC has opened up my life, changed my life.”

Jennifer Jones of Shelton is a journalism student/intern at Housatonic Community College.