MARLBORO — When Stewart Perlow decided on a whim to begin taking art classes just over two years ago, he had never before put paint to canvas. This month the Marlboro branch of the Monmouth County Library System is the second host to feature Perlow’s work in a solo exhibit.
"I had never picked up a paintbrush before," said Perlow, a Marlboro resident whose 22 pieces will be on display in the library, Wyncrest Road, until June 28.
Roni Browne Katz, Perlow’s teacher at the Marlboro Village Art Studio, said Perlow progressed extremely quickly in the classes. She said she realized his talent almost immediately and added that he needed confirmation of this talent from a professional more than he needed the lessons.
In fact, Perlow no longer takes lessons from Katz because, as Katz said, he does not need them.
When Perlow began bringing in work that he had done at home on his own, Katz urged him to enter juried competitions, which are exhibits in which select judges view pieces of work and choose the winners from among the entries in the competition.
Perlow said he began painting at home because the classes were progressing too slowly for him.
Along with urging him to enter competitions, Katz also displayed Per-low’s paintings in a new gallery at her studio. Perlow said his was the only work from a student on display at the studio. All of the other works on display had been completed by the studio’s teachers.
Almost all of Perlow’s pieces are of people, with the exception of one painting of a flower he did for his wife, Rosalind, as a Mother’s Day gift.
"I like to do people because there’s a certain warmth about people," Perlow said.
Katz said she believes Perlow’s portraits are his best work because he is able to bring drama into the paintings.
"His ability to capture someone’s personality is imperative" to his portraiture, Katz said.
Perlow also paints abstracts of people, which he captures from real life photos. Most of these have two people usually dancing, although some are of two in an embrace. All of the paintings have the people connected in some way and all the paintings’ subjects have a reddish blush brush stroke on their cheeks. Perlow calls this his "Rosy Cheek Edition," which he said he hoped to make his signature aspect of the abstract paintings.
Perlow’s portraits are also from photographs, such as the portrait he painted of his friend Arye Rosen.
The painting, adapted from a picture taken while the two were on a cruise with a group of friends, is of Rosen sitting with a camcorder in his hand and laughing.
He painted the portrait as a gift to Rosen, who was in the hospital at the time.
The portrait of Rosen was the first painting Perlow entered into a competition. When he entered it, he had not told Rosen about the painting, wanting to surprise his friend. After passing by the painting several times, Perlow said, Rosen finally realized what it was.
"I thought he was going to have a heart attack," Perlow said of his friend when he recognized who the man in the portrait was.
In addition to abstracts and portraits, Perlow also paints street scenes, such as a painting of four people standing next to a sidewalk cafe. Perlow said it was a painting of him, his wife and two friends, one of them Rosen, from a trip the four took together.
Despite the attention Perlow’s art has received, his main reason for painting is purely personal.
"I do it for myself," Perlow said, "and the idea of getting into a show is a little extra reward."

