By Paul Varnell

Contributing writer

When I first viewed Armando Pedroso’s work last spring at the then-new Weissman Gallery on Belmont, he seemed to be producing abstract constructions and assemblages made out of materials he found lying around in alleys or at construction sites.

His newer work, however, again on display at the Weissman Gallery, suggests that his approach has taken a traditional turn. The show titled “Dreampusher” consists largely of paintings with highly stylized but recognizable images. To be sure, there is some of the old style in the new: Several of the newer works include metal “found objects,” but now they are used to support the theme of each particular painting.

Part of the motive for the change is that Pedroso has a message he wants to communicate clearly. “Dreampusher” is his way of encouraging people to “take the leap of faith into their dreams without any fear or hesitation or excuses”—just as he did when he was laid off from his corporate sales job six years ago and became an artist.

“I heard a voice telling me to become an artist,” Pedroso says simply, adding in his artist’s statement, “If you don’t believe in the voice of God or being connected to your inner spirit…we need to talk.”

And so, utterly without experience or training in art, he plunged ahead.

There are actually two themes running through the paintings: One is the importance of listening to dreams. Those paintings have titles like “Unlock Your Dreams,” “Dream Weaver” and “Risk to Dream.” The other theme is the importance of home, as suggested in paintings such as “Warmth of Home,” “No Place Like…” and “Home is Where My Heart Is.” To underscore the point, many of the paintings have their titles or thematic words stenciled into them in large white letters.

Like the double plot convention of an Elizabethan stage play, the two themes are juxtaposed and sometimes combined in titles such as “Come Home To Your Dreams.” This painting comes close to autobiography with the stenciled number “9591,” Pedroso’s birth year backwards.

The unmistakable message of the exhibition taken as a whole is that one’s dreams are one’s real home, but getting there is a process, as indicated in such paintings as “Life’s a Journey,” “Journey to Me” or “Jump,” with its message underscored by the inclusion of several small springs attached to a ledge jutting out from the bottom of the painting.

The iconography supports the combined themes: Many of the paintings include small, stylized houses in ivory or cream color shaped like the houses in a Monopoly set, sometimes with windows. Other times there is just the triangular roof. The most nearly representational, probably not by accident, is “Warmth of Home” which depicts a house with three windows, a telephone or electricity pole in front and a wooden fence behind it.

The “found objects” like the springs in “Jump” also function as icons or signifying images: “Unlock Your Dreams” has a door bolt attached to it; “Reconnecting” has an attached hinge; and “Connect to the Moment” has a metal rod reaching from one side to the other.

Pedroso seems to favor a narrow range of colors: Many of the paintings are limited to reds, brows and blacks and the cream color for the houses, But there is a least one narrow vertical piece, “Dream Weaver,” that consists of brightly colored 2-inch metal squares—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Not surprisingly, it is already sold.

Pedroso’s paintings are meant to be inspirational—to encourage people to do what he did in following their dreams whatever they are. For the openly gay Pedroso, an artist who is displayed in several galleries around the country, it has worked out well, and he seems certain that it will for others. However that may be, it seems likely that many people do not know what their dreams are or have forgotten them. To those people Pedroso’s work may also have something to say.

“Dreampusher,” new works by Armando Pedroso, is at the Weissman Gallery, 2218 W. Belmont Ave. until Nov. 10. Gallery Hours: Thurs.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tues., Wed. and Sun. by appointment.