The images are harrowing. Paintings of a ruined family and ripped apart childhoods. A bed sheet stained in hues of red and orange. A self-portrait of a broken child, hollow eyes imprisoned behind brick walls.

The paintings are a powerful plea from a pair of Baltimore County brothers, Justin and Matt Wilke, who were pursued by a child molester until they took their own lives two years ago. Before their suicides, Justin Wilke created the artwork to confront the terror and secrecy of sexual child abuse.

The brothers hoped the paintings, along with Matt's photographs and poetry, could one day end the abuse, stop the silence.

Beginning tomorrow, the images will be shown to the public for the first time. Those who were close to the brothers believe that "J's Exhibit," opening at the 929 Gallery in Federal Hill, will guide people through the darkness of sexual child abuse, illuminating a path of hope along the way.

For the past four years, the exhibit has been shown strictly behind closed doors. To abused boys and girls and molesters in treatment programs. To social workers and psychologists. To parents trying to help their children overcome the terror of their abuse.

Those who witnessed the exhibit so far and listened to the writings were told they could write passages in a small black book to the artist -- a person they knew then only as "J." Many said the exhibit had a profound impact on their lives.

"Dear J," one person wrote. "It was hard to hold back the tears while viewing your art and listening to your words. I, too, have been a victim of sexual abuse. My God. This is the first time I've written of it. I expect the tears will flow on my long journey home tonight. Tears can cleanse, you know. Thank you, in more ways than you can know."

Justin and Matt were abused by Peter Dudley Albertsen II, a man they met at summer camp in Monkton in 1985. Albertsen was a counselor who befriended the boys and their parents. After winning their trust, Albertsen began to molest the boys at his Hampden rowhouse on Poole Street, overlooking the Roosevelt Park playground.

At the time, Justin was 11; Matt 13. Albertsen was 24.

In 1990, after the boys told their parents, Albertsen was arrested and charged with child molestation. He pleaded guilty, received a three-year suspended prison term and was placed on probation for five years. The judge ordered him to stay away from the brothers.

The idea for the exhibit began in 1994, after Justin and Matt volunteered to work at St. Vincent's Center, a home for abused boys and girls in Timonium. The Rev. Ray Chase, a Catholic priest and director of spiritual development at the center, asked Justin if he wanted to use his art to help others.

"We don't understand the realities of child victimization," Chase said. "I went to Justin with a proposal that he try to help us understand what victimization is like through his art. He was thrilled by the idea."

At St. Vincent's, Justin agreed to complete three pieces of art to describe what it was like to be a victim, how he felt about his abuser, and what the abuse had done to his family. Every few weeks, Justin would return to St. Vincent's with a completed piece of art.

The first was a self-portrait, a sketch of a child huddled in a brick cell. It was accompanied by a narrative called "Solitude." Justin recalled in chilling detail how Albertsen had abused him, how he asked him to remove his clothes, piece by piece, as a pair of cameras recorded every move.

"Dear J," another person wrote after seeing the exhibit. "The world is better for having people like you in it. Please don't ever stop telling the truth. It will set everyone free. My family has been living with this too long, and you have helped. Thank you."

The second painting portrayed Albertsen. He dominates the canvas, holding a Canon camera in his hand. The canvas, shaped like a strip of film, is accompanied by a haunting poem Justin wrote called "Duplicity." It warns of the dangers of trusting people like Albertsen.

Do not talk of him without emptying what is left

In my heart that is the horror of him

Waste not your breath on speaking of the good things

For my scars will last past eternity

Into the darkness from which

there is no escape for me.

The third piece was a portrait of the Wilke family, standing against a burning rowhouse. Albertsen is painted as the devil, hanging on the back of Justin's mother. His father is drawn as a ghost-like figure.

Justin wrote a "Letter to God" to accompany the painting.

"Dear God," he began. "Something seems to haunt me. I am constantly followed by a certain numbness which I cannot escape."

At the end of 1994, Justin agreed to complete a fourth piece for the exhibit, another self-portrait, this one painted on a bed sheet. Justin portrayed himself as an old woman, sitting in a room. Streaks of red and orange paint run down one side of the sheet, a field of black covers the other.

"He used to say that sometimes the only time you can see yourself is when you look into the darkness," Chase recalled. "That's the legacy he left for us, that you have to look into the darkness if you want things to change."

While working on the exhibit, Justin seemed to be consumed by darkness. Albertsen had been stalking him, sending him long letters and following him to public places. In 1995, Albertsen mailed him a videotape of child sex scenes from Germany that are illegal in the United States.

The Wilke family also was falling apart.

The boys' mother, Susan, had left the family and moved away to Florida. Their father, Don, a bookish, bespectacled manager at the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, believed that he had failed to protect his sons. Deeply depressed, he was on the brink of committing suicide.

Two days after Thanksgiving in 1995, Don Wilke pulled his Volkswagen into the garage of the family's home near Hereford and asphyxiated himself. Justin completed one final piece for the exhibit -- a painting of his father behind the wheel of the Volkswagen.

"J, I'm so sorry for you and your pain," another person wrote after seeing the exhibit. "I thank you because I was actually able to feel all of your pain and imprisonment. You see my son was sexually abused and he kept it a deep secret. And then he abused. He suffers both ends. He has acted out in anger and behavior and suicide attempts. I saw the silent monster that encages him. For this, I thank you. I pray for your healing."

Weeks after his father's death, Justin began talking about taking his own life. On Feb. 8, 1996, he pulled his Volkswagen into the parking lot of Padonia Auto Sales off York Road and asphyxiated himself. On the passenger seat, he left a note.

"Sell everything I have and donate the money to St. Vincent's. I love you all, Justin."

What remained of the Wilke family rallied around Matt. In August 1996, Matt gave Chase three photographs to include in "J's Exhibit." They were photos Matt had taken of children.

A few days later, a farmer found Matt's body in a cornfield off Masemore Road in Baltimore County. He had pulled his brother's Volkswagen up a farm road and asphyxiated himself in the car. He left behind numerous poems that have since been incorporated into the exhibit.

He also left a note that day.

"Sell my belongings to benefit 'J's Exhibit,' " Matt wrote.

Four months after Matt's suicide, agents with U.S. Customs and the Postal Inspection Service arrested Albertsen, charging him with sending an illegal tape of child pornography into the United Stated from Germany. Last summer, Albertsen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to spend 10 years in federal prison without parole. He also was sentenced to serve the three-year prison term that was suspended from the 1990 child abuse conviction.

During the exhibit, Chase said, he will try to be at the gallery as often as possible to explain the artwork. Those who go to the gallery can also read Justin and Matt's writings and poetry as they absorb the harrowing images the brothers left behind.

"J," another person wrote after seeing the exhibit, "so brave of you to express your feelings and how much this can help all of us. One day, too, I'll be brave to tell all. Many boys and girls have secrets.

"One day, J, I will tell."

'J's Exhibit'

Where: 929 Gallery, 929 S. Charles St., Baltimore.

When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays;

through June 28

Admission: Free

Call: 410-659-0929

Pub Date: 6/05/98