Doreen Manning

Art. It’s all how you interpret it.

For one person, a beautifully painted landscape should be placed lovingly above the mantle. For another, a landscape begs for augmentation — such as an image of Godzilla battling a giant Japanese beetle or an octopus climbing out of a once tranquil pond – transforming the original work from a foreground into a backdrop for oddities and surprises.

Jonathan Hansen’s Cross-Cultural Contamination at Dark World Gallery offers the latter, with a spin on traditional works and one artist’s fun interpretations of them.

The exhibit, opening March 6, was inspired by at trip to Savers last May. Upon visiting the Park Avenue budget haven, Hansen noticed how many “bad” paintings were on display.

“The recession was sinking in and the thought struck me: ‘What if I could make these paintings better?’” says Hansen, a ’99 graduate of the Art Institute of Boston. He purchased a radiant fall landscape on the spot.

“After bringing it home, I started painting it a few days later and was surprised to find how natural the process was,” says Hansen. “After it was done I was left with ‘Cobra Commander Narrowly Escapes Blowtorch’s Blaze on Mother Nature’ and was soon buying every Bob Ross knock-off I could find.”

This is the second exhibit at Dark World Gallery for Hansen, who is also the gallery curator.

“As the curator I’ve seen a little bit of what our gallery has offered the public and I knew I wanted to do something more traditional in terms of painting on canvas or wood with nice, or beat-up, frames,” says Hansen.

With 15 reworked pieces in this exhibit, Hansen’s budget is kept in check through the bargain bins and flea markets where he finds original works to mess with.

“I’m not spending a fortune on these artworks so I will be able to sell them at decent prices,” says Hansen. “Most people that come in aren’t looking to drop $300 on one piece of art. Though if I could get my hands on a Thomas Kinkade, I would definitely have to jack up my price on that one!

“I’d like to think I’m making a bad painting 22 percent better somehow, leaving the viewer with something nostalgic presented in a new way,” he quips. “I almost titled the show uni-brow art, which would have been a combination of low-brow paintings using high-brow techniques. I decided on Cross-Cultural Contamination due to the mash-up of artists – myself and the original – and scene vs. characters I include.”

Hansen says the most challenging part of these “contaminated” paintings is what to incorporate into the scene and how subtle his touch should be. In “Mafia Donna,” an ocean scene with a sunbathing woman on a beach, Hansen decided to step lightly and have fun.

“The final piece shows a man in a suit standing in the water waist deep while cement bags are at the woman’s feet,” says Hansen. “It’s a play on words, the Don being the mafia boss, in this case an unassuming woman with a beach hat. I have always been good with puns and pop culture references; this was an awesome way to tie them together.”

For the past year, Hansen has worked hard to create shows at Dark World Gallery that run the gamut of styles, techniques and subject matter. With the gallery booked throughout 2010, Hansen is already looking at shows for 2011. “[Owner] Ben Mack and I are thrilled with the Worcester community for supporting and embracing us as a gallery, and we’ve been getting great feedback not only from patrons, but artists, family and people coming in for tattoos as well,” says Hansen.

Opening reception is March 6 from 7-10 p.m. at Dark World Gallery located inside Out of the Dark World Tattoos at 179 Grafton St., Worcester. The show runs through March 31. darkworldgallery.com, jonathanhansenart.com.

Tim O’Keefe

The Polish Naturalization Independent Club may not be known as the go-to destination for hard rock and metal concerts, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. That’s why the club will be hosting an 18-plus metal show on March 5, with some of the heaviest bands in Worcester.

“Personally, I like 18-plus shows a lot just because it’s less restrictive and more people can come out,” says Graham Bacher, guitarist for Protean Collective. “I remember being under 21 and it was just annoying to not be able to go out to all of the shows I wanted to just because I wasn’t old enough to legally drink yet.”

Besides Protean Collective, bands performing that night include Born of Ash, Fallen Shall Rise, Finisher and From What We Believe.

“About a month back, I ended up seeing Finisher play at a packed house party in Boston and they stole the show,” says Matt Perard, drummer for Protean Collective. “Funny thing was that I was planning on asking them [to perform] on this show then Smoke [from Born of Ash] sent me the flyer with them on it. I checked out the rest of bands online and was very impressed and happy to be on a strong bill.”

Kevin Conroy, promoter for Born of Ash, says he’s known singer/guitarist Andrew Stanhope his whole life, and has seen the musical transformation that eventually would form what the band is now.

“[Andrew] had a metal band going called Lasttwilight with his older brother on bass and his younger brother on keys, as well as a drummer that he’d gone to high school with,” he says. “But the drummer of Lasttwilight was in the military and got called off to Iraq, and the bass player had a kid and became less available. After looking everywhere Andrew found a new drummer, Ryan, who loved the music and was dedicated to learning the set. Then he called upon Justin Noe, who he had worked with in the studio before on some recording and beat projects, to play bass. The new group was named Born of Ash.”

The band has been playing around Worcester but is looking to expand by performing more shows all throughout New England. Stanhope describes the band’s sound as heavy metal/rock and roll, with a variety of tracks ranging from brutal to fast, heavy and bluesy hard rock.

“I’m excited to play with all the different styles of metal bands, and hang out and bond with friends and family, and just move the crowd and make it a memorable experience,” he says.

Bacher says Protean Collective has an original sound, but it is still deeply set in hard rock.

“It’s a heavy type of rock, influenced by a lot of different groups,” he says, “including progressive bands and metal bands. Sometimes [we’re] very heavy, sometimes [we’re] very soft. We try to stay creative without pigeonholing ourselves too much in any one genre.”

For some, performing in Worcester will be a homecoming of sorts.

“I love that the people in and around Worcester are extremely passionate about their music and keeping the scene alive,” says Perard. “Also, I grew up playing death metal and going to shows in the Worcester scene and I’m excited to be going back to my roots. We haven’t been in the area since the summer because we’ve been busy writing and recording a new album, so it’s great to come back down the pike and hang with old friends.”

18+ Show at the Polish Naturalization Independent Club, Friday, March 5, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., $8. Performances by Born of Ash, Protean Collective, Fallen Shall Rise, Finisher, From What We Believe.

RADIx’s Manifest Destiny

Timing is everything. The right timing can land you in a perfect position. For RADIx, I would have to say it’s more than timing, it’s destiny. RADIx is one of the hardest working groups coming out of the City of Wor and it seems not enough people are aware of the talented duo.

RADIx has worked with the likes of Mr. Eon, ED OG and Akrobatik to name a few and has released numerous mix tapes and EP’s. RADIx is Quite Nyce and Seek. They met as random roommates in college and established a bond, sharing similar music interests. When talking about RADIx it seems that destiny is the keyword. How else would you describe their linking with one of the sickest producers in the game right now, Statik Selektah?

What Statik has been doing for Mass hip-hop has to be recognized, as he is bringing a lot of focus to the state with his Showoff movement (Showoff Records, founded in 2003 by Selektah, has released some of the most acclaimed hip-hop out of the East Coast in the past decade), and his grind is like no other. Quite Nyce explains, “It wasn’t cause he was buzzing, we felt our style has evolved enough to approach Statik.”

That “style” is what makes their music appealing to many different types of people. They refuse to be put in a box or allow any one else to. RADIx calls its sound life music. I have to quote my brother Lex, who said, “It’s the true essence of hip hop, it’s how you live.”  

The chemistry between RADIx and Statik making the single “The Return” was so strong, it led to a full-length album collaboration. A lot of good comes with hard work and here is a group that has been on its grind. Beyond the lyrics are also two business-minded individuals who are trying to create revenue and make money.

For a group who has felt overlooked for so long, it seems the spotlight is now upon them,  and trust me when I say they are ready.

Be sure to check out the RADIx release party for the new single The Return Friday, March 5, at the Lucky Dog Music Hall, 89 Green St., Worcester, with live performances by Black El and Durkin, Blacastan, Spit Supreme and Kinda Dusty, Youngstar and special guest DJ JS1. Doors open at 9 p.m. RADIxHipHop.com

Doreen Manning

Rock ’n’ roll is more than just noise. It’s the soundtrack to our lives, our culture and our country’s history for the past five decades. But it was more than just the music — it was a look, an attitude. Nothing captured the heart of rock ’n’ roll like the images snapped over its evolution, through album art, sweaty live shots, insider candids, staged PR portraits and pure visual stimuli that shook our world.

The Worcester Art Museum offers a window into the talent and vision of more than 100 photographers who captured rock ’n’ roll through their lens in Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present on view March 7-May 30.

The traveling exhibit was organized by the Brooklyn Museum and guest curator, photography historian and author Gail Buckland. In conjunction with the exhibition, Buckland created a hardcover companion book chronicling the photographers and their photographs that caught the spirit of the rock ’n’ roll scene over the last 50 years.

Buckland says the idea for the exhibit/book came through a conversation with friend and colleague Jonathan Marder, who wished for a volume that focused on the men and women who photograph rock ’n’ roll. As Buckland notes, the project was about “putting the photographers, not the musicians, in the forefront, for a change.” So she set about making it happen.

“When the director of the Brooklyn Museum, Dr. Arnold Lehman, learned about my project, he immediately saw its potential as an exhibition,” Buckland says. The Brooklyn Museum supplied the funding, allowing Buckland to research and visit with photographers and collectors from all four corners to amass this stunning collection of images.

Worcester Art Museum Director James Welu saw the exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum two years ago and envisioned a natural complement to the museum’s already strong photography collection.

“WAM was one of the first museums to exhibit photography as fine art,” says Welu, noting the museum began exhibiting photography as in 1904. “This show is a pioneering effort in examining the history of rock ’n’ roll through the lens.”

David Acton, curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Worcester Art Museum since 1986, says the art world has great respect for WAM’s contemporary art collection already, so a forward-thinking photography exhibit like this is a perfect fit.

“Since we began to collect photography … we have had a vital program,” says Acton. “We’ve done many exhibitions of living photographers, from Dorothea Lange to Brassai, to Stephen Shore. In my own time we have done shows that challenge the boundaries between aesthetic photographs and other genres, like fashion photography, war reportage, or photographs by Linda McCartney.”

Buckland notes that rock ’n’ roll is one of the greatest social revolutions the world has ever known, and the camera lens has captured the youthful anxiety, the unleashed fury, and awakening sexuality that rock brings out in its listeners.

“What I argue in Who Shot Rock And Roll [is that] it was a bipartite revolution — it was sound and image. The music has been discussed and written about endlessly. The importance of the image is a subject that needs to be explored. I hope my exhibition and book starts the conversation,” Buckland says.

“We know this show will have broad appeal as almost everyone alive today has been affected by the rock ’n’ roll movement,” says Welu. “In addition to the opportunity to relive the many wonderful years of music from the last half century, our audience will discover the photographers who documented this important movement.”

Acton believes the exhibit will strike a chord with museum regulars, and attract a few new patrons through WAM’s marbled entrance. “We try very hard to present contemporary works in a range of media in close proximity to the ancient and old masters, and we delight in the ideas and questions that proximity provokes,” Acton says. “Of course, we do hope that new visitors will come to the museum, and once here they’ll find how cool it is.”

Buckland best sums up the excitement this new exhibit is bringing to the halls of Worcester Art Museum: “This is the perfect exhibition for anyone of any age who loves rock ’n’ roll and loves photography. If rock can’t be fun, what can?”

Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St., Worcester worcesterart.org

Staff picks

JAMES WELU | One of my favorite works is Henry Diltz’s image of Tina Turner, which captures this great musical star in the heat of the moment. You can observe in all of its detail the passion behind rock & roll.  I’m also fond of the photograph by William “Popsie” Randolph, which includes Wilson Pickett and Jimi Hendrix as a young performer. Like many of the works in this show, this photograph illustrates how much the rock ’n’ roll movement was rooted in African-American culture.  

DAVID ACTON | Personally, I respond most deeply to the pictures of my favorite musicians, like Aretha, the Supremes, and George Harrison. My favorite piece in the show is Gered Mankowitz’s monumental lenticular portrait of Jimi Hendrix. It proves that the feelings and ideals of my adolescence are still strong.

GAIL BUCKLAND | The photographs in the book and exhibition are all my favorites. They fall into different categories, all of which help give a broad and diverse understanding of photography’s relationship to rock and roll. Just as there is no one sound that is rock and roll, there is no one type of photograph that expresses it either. I selected photographs of young musicians just starting out, not knowing if they would be history in six months or the world’s biggest band; photographs taken behind the scenes by photographers known and respected by the musicians; portraits; conceptual images; performance shots; and, of course, photographs of crowds and fans.

— EVENTS —

Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Curator’s Perspective | Sunday, March 7, 11 a.m.
Gail Buckland, photography historian and guest curator of Who Shot Rock & Roll will speak, followed by a book signing of her companion catalog to the exhibition. Free with museum admission.

Worcester in the ’60s | Sunday, March 14, 2 p.m.
Co-founder of the Worcester night club “The Comic Strip” in the 1960s, Ed Madaus breathed live music into Worcester. The club was packed every week with hundreds of high school students out to dance and meet people, and almost every weekend the biggest recording artists of the day played there, including Neil Diamond, The Animals, The Young Rascals, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, and The Barbarians. Madaus will recall those glory days. Free with museum admission.

A Rock & Roll Family Day | Sunday, March 21, 1-4:30 p.m.
Discover the Museum with your family at this fun Family Day. Free with museum admission; 17 and under always free.

Wormtown Rocks! Exhibition & Reception | April 6-May 14
Public Exhibition and Reception: April 8, 5:30-8:30 p.m. | Higgins Education Wing
Worcester has always been known for its lively music scene and its ability to nurture artists of all genres. This photo competition and exhibition is a dynamic and unique snapshot of the area’s music scene, highlighting both photographic as well as musical talents. Winners of this juried competition will receive cash awards on Thursday, April 8. Entries due at the museum by Wednesday, March 10.

The History of Rock and Roll | Sunday, May 9, 2 p.m.
Dr. Steve Waksman, Associate Professor of Music and American Studies at Smith College and author of the books Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience, and This Ain’t the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk, will present a lively interpretation of the photos on view. Free with museum admission.