Neon flights of fancy and nightmare landscapes are just two of the startling visions in artist Vaughn Clay's new exhibit at the Art Loft in Mt. Lebanon.

"Gasoline Dreams and Rust Belt Blues," a series of paintings and graphite-and-paint works, has been showcased for about a week at the Washington Road gallery, but its official opening reception is tomorrow evening.

Three central themes make up the show:

"Gasoline Dreams" evokes a time when America was forward-thinking and prosperous, a 1950s era of rock 'n' roll and Ronald Reagan, the Hollywood actor.

"Rustbelt Blues" is a 1980s reaction to the decline of industry in this country and the economic hardships that followed.

"Graffiti Nation," Mr. Clay's most recent works, pay homage to the energy of an emerging art form.

"I guess this is what drives my art, a concern for American society, a concern about the Iraq war, so I'm trying to give voice to those issues," Mr. Clay said.

"Sometimes, it's unpleasant to look at, but it's dramatic."

The first series of "Gasoline Dreams" is a generally hopeful collection of iconic images from the era.

" 'Neon Nights' is mostly about Pittsburgh. I loved working with [images of] neon, it's kind of a retro metaphor for the heyday of the road culture of America in the '50s, when road signs were big and everything was big and good except, well, we won't talk about McCarthyism."

In the second series, Nancy Reagan and Marilyn Monroe are depicted in cheesecake poses against a backdrop of glowering skies filled with low-flying dirigibles, huge Amoco tanks towering over a "dead" gas station.

"It's like a bad dream," Mr. Clay said.

"Dying gas stations are a metaphor for the decline of industry in the North, in the rust belt, so I used gas stations because I never thought I'd see a gas station close.

"As a young person, I just couldn't believe it. It blew my mind. I had to start painting these things."

Mr. Vaughn, who claims to be "almost 65," was a child of the golden 1940s and '50s. But he also grew up exposed to tough neighborhoods in Buffalo, N.Y., where promises weren't always kept.

This perhaps underscores the grittiness of many of his works, despite their bright colors and the fact that so much is crowding each panel.

"These things were not planned out. They happened organically and spontaneously and intuitively. Things are going on here that I cannot exactly explain.

"There is not a perfect logic to it," he said.

He enjoys a certain symbolism throughout, with flamingos representing hope and ghostly white whippets standing in for honesty.

In one painting, "Club Med," former President Reagan sits in the shadows at a metaphorical table set with the Mediterranean Sea, the Pyramids and surrounding countries.

In the far corner is Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Both men reach for weapons.

"It's not going to be fun times at Club Med," said Mr. Clay, who served in the U.S. Army reserve from 1962-1968.

A 2008 piece, "Stop Loss/Surrounded," is a graphite-and-paint work that depicts an armed U.S. soldier at the center and little versions of President Bush framed by television screens dancing around the edges.

"Those poor guys over there, they're brave, but I'm so worried about them," Mr. Clay said. "They are having their tours of duty endlessly extended by the Bush administration."

The TV versions, he said, "that's how we do see him, so much is on television, kind of disembodied, floating around."

Another work, "Where's Osama?/It Begins" is a bitter, humorous take on a terrorist's disappearance.

Not everyone understands his point of view, he said, and that's fine. He said his recent collection has been rejected by two Associated Artists-Pittsburgh shows as well as one at the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts in New Castle.

"I think it's hard for some people [to understand], it might take 10 more years for people to see it," he said.

Art Loft owner Sally Gehl said she isn't worried about controversy.

"I'm not endorsing any particular point of view," she said. "I'm just interested in raising the questions."

The exhibition hasn't been open long but, so far, she hasn't received any negative responses, she said.

Mr. Clay taught art history and studio art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for 36 years. Now retired, he works full time on his art, and the latest evolution is his homage to graffiti artists.

These works are drawings with a light acrylic paint wash.

"In a way, I'm closer to those than I am to all the other stuff [because it's new]," he said.

"The whole milieu, the whole genre, of graffiti is intriguing to me. There's an energy to it, a gut-level, go-for-it energy that I respond to," Mr. Clay said.

He described true graffiti art as "like an extreme sport," given the artists' canvas can be anything from the top of a skyscraper to train cars in a rail yard.

In "Graffiti Nation," he is "quoting" artists: "I can't present this as my imagery," he said.

Instead, he depicts some of the artists, turning classic iconic figures into pop-culture hybrids. One shows Johannes Vermeer's "Girl With Pearl Earring" as "Pearl Girl With Gremlins."

The face is recognizable, but the body is strictly Victoria's Secret. Also, the woman has been assimilated by the Borg, a nod to Star Trek culture.

He even drew a tag for himself: "OVAUGHNO."

The show runs through Nov. 1.