A Euphoric Art Experience

By Scott Zoback

Paintings of Lego figures on a family vacation, guys in X-ray glasses, retro-esque spaceman comic covers, GI Joe formal portraits, zombies, graffiti art, street art, Alice in Wonderland, the Cartoon Network, vinyl toys, underground art, vintage cartoon animation cels, and whimsical illustrations of all kinds.
 Oh, and don’t forget Adam West’s 1960’s actual Batman cowl.

This isn’t your typical Worcester art show.

ARTSWorcester and ModusLotus’ POP Euphoria international art exhibition, opening this Saturday night at the Aurora Gallery at 660 Main Street, is the first show of its kind in the city—and is unique for anywhere in the state.

“I didn’t want to do something pretentious.  I wanted to do something progressive, something exciting,” says show curator Veronica Hebard.

The show, featuring over 100 pieces of work from Japan, England, Canada, California, New York, Oregon, and all over Massachusetts, hits the nail on the head for casual fans, vintage comics and toy lovers, and modern pop art junkies alike.  It’s the kind of show you’d expect to see in NYC, LA, or Portland, OR, but not until now around here.  

KAIJU BIG BATTLE and Dr. Mego share gallery space with established artists like Paul Ryan (The Phantom) and Liz Artinian (Cartoon Networks); underground/pop heroes and up and comers including: Jim Mahfood (disclosure: this writer has a business relationship with Mahfood), Dave Franzese, Matt Furie; Rey Ortega, Monster*Decay, Brian Reddy, Rosemary Travale, Jennifer Lewis; and local favorites including Hebard, Andy Fish, and Derek Ring.

“People wants to see art that makes them laugh, makes them smile,” says Hebard.

“Part of the premise is that no matter what, you come back to the stuff that was exciting to you as a kid.” That attitude has taken hold in many corners of the art world, where, as Hebard puts it, “low” art has become high-brow and vice versa.  

“It’s easier now than it ever has been to [be successful with] this kind of art,” she says.

Also a rarity for local art shows is the accessibility: Pieces start at $25-$50 and range up to a few thousand dollars.

Keeping with the toy theme, the show is a benefit for Toys for Tots and Sherry’s House.  Admission is free, but visitors are asked to bring an unwrapped toy; a percentage of each piece of art sold will go to the charities.

“This kind of stuff doesn’t get enough…” Hubard searches.  Attention? Respect? “Just enough.”
 

Pop Euphoria: An International Pop Art Exhibition runs December 6-January 17 at The Aurora Gallery at 660 Main Street.  Opening reception is December 6th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.  Gallery hours are Tuesday, 1-4pm; Wednesday-Friday; 10am-4pm; Saturday 1-4pm o

By Rachel Burke

Are you tired of battling the lines at the malls? Wouldn’t it be nice if holiday shopping was actually an enjoyable experience? Well, if you’re looking to make this year’s gift-buying trip a fun-filled event, then be sure to stop by the sixth annual stART at the Station, Worcester’s annual arts and crafts event, on Dec. 7. The event will feature handmade items from more than 75 artists, along with food, drinks and music. What could be better?

The festival takes place at the spot where it all began, Union Station. “Although we had the event at the DCU Center last year since it was bigger, we realized that we’re a smaller, funkier group,” says stART’s co-director, Tina Zlody. “This year, we decided to go back to Union Station where we’ve had some very successful events, and we felt very at home there.”

According to Zlody, the event is not only a unique way to do your holiday shopping, but it’s also good for the community.

“It’s a great time for people to shop and support their local economy by shopping handmade,” she says. “This is our sixth year doing a December event and we just felt that it was a really good time for artists to sell their work and to get people out of the malls and see what people in their state have to offer for art. There will be some beautiful work that we’re showing this year: jewelry, photography, all sorts of stuff — it runs the gamut.

“Union Station will be great because they have a garage and people can park inside. The restaurant is going to be open and they’ll serve a limited menu. We’ll have a couple of bars open and play some music. People can have a few drinks and walk around. It’s a very social experience, which we always like our events to be. A lot of people spend two to four hours there, eating drinking, shopping and talking to their pals.”

As an artist herself, co-director Sarah Brueck understands the importance of the stART event. “Our goal is to offer venues for local artists to sell their handmade arts and crafts through the three annual events we host,” Brueck says. “Personally, my goal is to keep the fees for participants as low as possible. We want artists of all mediums and experience levels to be able to participate. … We are showcasing over seventy-five amazing talented artisans who would benefit from the support of the local community. Plus, there are amazing gifts to be purchased here at stART at the Station!”

“It’s a wonderful event,” adds Ellen Ganley, Worcester Cultural Council’s Special Projects Assistant. “It gives the greater Worcester area an opportunity to buy unique, handmade high quality items from local artists and craftspeople. With the economy being what it is, I think people are looking to find more special gifts and I think this event affords them this opportunity. It’s a nice introduction to the holiday season.”

Natalie Gillihan, one of stART’s contributing artists, couldn’t agree more. “This year will be my seventh stART event since I moved to Worcester three years ago,” Gillihan says. “I love the stART events because they are such an integral part of a lively Worcester arts community. With the diverse food, performances and of course the artists, the events seem to showcase the diversity and energy of the Worcester arts scene. Plus, I happen to sell well at these events, which is always a bonus. The generosity and dedication of the stART planners has really paid off.”

stART at the Station will take place on Dec. 7 from 12-5 p.m. at Union Station in Worcester. For more information visit: startonthestreet.org/start-station o

By Zachary Pelham

The prints of photographer Stephen DiRado, dappled with tenebrous darks and pearly inflections, depict polished yet astir portraits of the American idioms that make up biography. DiRado’s decades-spanning project Dinner Series: The Way We Lived, is on display at the Fitchburg Art Museum until Jan. 4. Images of families and friends gathered around interior and exterior tables, surrounded by various foods and flickering light sources from waning summer sunsets to chiaroscuro candlelight, make up the rich ephemera of DiRado’s documentation of meals.

This show is the first solo exhibition of Dinner Series in New England, but DiRado has artistic and personal roots in the Worcester area. As well as being a long-time resident, DiRado studied photography at the Worcester Art Museum in the ’70s, and has been serving as a lecturer in photography at Clark University since 1985. But his relationship to location, as specific as it can be in his work, is ultimately less important. The fact that the first photograph in the show is of the artist’s grandparents, is irrelevant. The viewer is unaware of the biographical details of these documentations, which move in so close that they render a new unfamiliarity. The prosaic examination of the exact individuals give way to a poetic image where viewers are not faced with voyeurism, but rather the intimacy of their own lives. “The Dinner Series began as a photographic record of the meal and the people present,” says Kristina Durocher, co-curator of the exhibition, in a statement. “Eventually it evolved to include a thoughtful, complex investigation of human relationships.”

“The Dinner Series is an epic project and started over 25 years ago,” DiRado explains of his work, which captures “family, friends, colleagues, intellectuals, artists and friends of friends.” Although the series has broader cultural themes, it stems from very personal interests. “The work is biographical. These photographs are as much about me as about the people I choose to live with and associate [with]. The table in itself acts as a metaphor to help define the cast of characters, (including myself),” he says.

DiRado has built this series organically, as his themes reveal themselves to him slowly, inspired by memories of childhood dinners. “The majority of any week throughout the year we had a guest or two. I was always fascinated by the cast of characters and each role one played out,” he says.

Fitchburg Art Museum curators Stephen Jareckie and Kristina Dorucher initially contacted DiRado to organize a broader showing of his work, but conversations and studio visits eventually led to the idea of exhibiting Dinner Series. “I can’t express enough how proud I am in the way that Stephen Jareckie and Kristina Dorucher distilled thousands of photographs to create the first showing of my Dinner Series,” says DiRado. “They strategically traced my development as an artist and selected key images to best depict the maturing of this series.” The exhibit features an array of DiRado’s large format black and white photographs from various years, all taken with an old, cumbersome 8x10 box camera that rests on a large tripod, which he meticulously stations for each shot.

Dinner Series presents the textures, surfaces, clothing, food, and faces of domestic life. The rituals of eating and socializing are a universal, even tribal, theme, and DiRado has crafted a patient, incisive American idiom, which is still growing. He says, “I do not see this series coming to an end any time soon, and do see many years of work ahead of me.”

Stephen DiRado’s Dinner Series: How We Lived runs through Jan. 4, 2009. The Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St., Fitchburg. 978-345-4207, fitchburgartmuseum.org. o