Vegan Artist Opens Show at Dark World Gallery

Posted by Drew.

This past weekend Morgan Freeman opened his art show at Dark World Gallery at 179 Grafton Street, Worcester (map). Often depicting some kind of suffering or pain in his art, Morgan believes that his paintings and his veganism are connected. Every month the tattoo shop features the work of a new artist. Morgan’s show opened on Saturday, March 7 and will be on display through the end of the month.

I’ll admit it, I was lured in by the promise of free vegan cupcakes. Morgan is a vegan and had the event partially catered by Barely Legal Treats, Worcester’s vegan bakery. That’s how I heard about it. He says being vegan has had a significant influence on his art, even if he can’t always explain how. In one piece, a depiction of a suffering pig appears next to the image of a sausage. “It’s chaotic,” he says, “it’s definitely related to veganism.” he continues, “…it’s about how things are fucked up. You know, capitalism.”

Sure, Dark World is a tattoo shop, but they’re trying to create a space where people can appreciate visual art, they’re especially interested in catering to people who aren’t traditional art lovers. “First and foremost, we’re artists,” says Ben, owner of Dark World. He opened the shop 2 years ago, but moved it from the original location. The shop started out just a few blocks further up Grafton Street, but when Ben found this bigger space he felt that he had to take advantage of the opportunity to expand and add an art gallery.

“Most tattoo shops have tattoo art all over the walls, but we’re different,” he said. He explained that the tattoo artists at Dark World are more interested in working with their clients to develop original artwork, rather than tracing something out of a catalog.

If you missed last week’s opening, you can still catch Morgan Freeman’s work. It will be on display at Dark World through April 1st, so stop and check it out. While you’re in there you can get a tattoo. Maybe Morgan could give you a discount on a vegetarian-related tattoo.

See more photos of the art opening on our new flickr page.