Since 2000, I have been working with bringing the worlds of Rock and Roll and the history of painting together. To me, there just isn’t enough art about rock music, and I am doing my part to bring a little more in the world.
-Joe Wardwell, 2006
“I recently had an exciting experience at the opening of Joe Wardwell:"Solo" . . . The lights came on, everyone piled in, the music began to play, and the work was awesome. I wanted to yell, “YEAH! JOE! YEAH!”, and I am sure that no one would have minded, but I held it in. Even though it was the Gallery@ Green Street, it was still a gallery and even here there are some social expectations. Wardwell’s works are beautifully executed paintings reminiscent of classical Baroque works. The figures of angels and heavenly hosts (in the traditional sense) have been replaced by a veritable who’s who of heavy metal and rock’n roll history. There are women, there are men, and there is hair, instruments, tattoos and flames. It is like the Garden of Rock’N Roll delights. I think Hieronymus Bosch would have appreciated it. Sex, drugs, Rock n Roll, and great painting. I never thought that would be the new phrase. Also included in the exhibit are paintings in the shape of guitars. I had to suppress the urge to pick one up and play “Crazy Train.” “
-Hiedi Marsten, Big, Red, and Shiny, 2005
Using an electric guitar as his framework, Wardwell depicts slackers, stoners, and punk rockers in postures and landscapes cadged from old masters. The paintings have the over-the-top, garish allure of 1970s LP cover art, with the detailed intelligence and lush gravity of a Titian, brought together with sly humor and affection for both.
-Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, 2004
“His figure studies mix old-master techniques and postures with the type of low-culture image-making found today in heavy metal, death metal, neo-glam and even mainstream rock music . . . These are delicate drawings exquisite in their depiction of seedy figure. I found myself imagining these figures' biographies. I saw them on Sunset Strip in the seventies waiting to get invited to the Deep Purple after-party, while imagining themselves as modern nymphs and satyrs, sybarites out of a Baroque idyll.”
-Bill Arning, 2004
-Joe Wardwell, 2006
“I recently had an exciting experience at the opening of Joe Wardwell:"Solo" . . . The lights came on, everyone piled in, the music began to play, and the work was awesome. I wanted to yell, “YEAH! JOE! YEAH!”, and I am sure that no one would have minded, but I held it in. Even though it was the Gallery@ Green Street, it was still a gallery and even here there are some social expectations. Wardwell’s works are beautifully executed paintings reminiscent of classical Baroque works. The figures of angels and heavenly hosts (in the traditional sense) have been replaced by a veritable who’s who of heavy metal and rock’n roll history. There are women, there are men, and there is hair, instruments, tattoos and flames. It is like the Garden of Rock’N Roll delights. I think Hieronymus Bosch would have appreciated it. Sex, drugs, Rock n Roll, and great painting. I never thought that would be the new phrase. Also included in the exhibit are paintings in the shape of guitars. I had to suppress the urge to pick one up and play “Crazy Train.” “
-Hiedi Marsten, Big, Red, and Shiny, 2005
Using an electric guitar as his framework, Wardwell depicts slackers, stoners, and punk rockers in postures and landscapes cadged from old masters. The paintings have the over-the-top, garish allure of 1970s LP cover art, with the detailed intelligence and lush gravity of a Titian, brought together with sly humor and affection for both.
-Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, 2004
“His figure studies mix old-master techniques and postures with the type of low-culture image-making found today in heavy metal, death metal, neo-glam and even mainstream rock music . . . These are delicate drawings exquisite in their depiction of seedy figure. I found myself imagining these figures' biographies. I saw them on Sunset Strip in the seventies waiting to get invited to the Deep Purple after-party, while imagining themselves as modern nymphs and satyrs, sybarites out of a Baroque idyll.”
-Bill Arning, 2004
Loading Artwork...
If you still see this message after several seconds:
- Enable Javascript
- Install the Adobe Flash plugin
Click here for the latest Flash plugin
If you still see this message after several seconds:
- Enable Javascript
- Install the Adobe Flash plugin
Click here for the latest Flash plugin
