MACA Museum presents American Weird. A Celebration of Genius, a new exhibition that delves into the cultural dynamics between the United States and Europe, bringing together perspectives from literature, Illustration, film, and fine art, and the influence of American folk themes from the time of the early European settlements to the present day
The artistic relationship between the United States and Europe has always been complex, dynamic, and often paradoxical; a transatlantic conversation marked by admiration, rebellion, appropriation, and reinvention. From the earliest European settlements to contemporary art movements, the arts in the United States and Europe have reflected shifting power dynamics, cultural anxieties, and mutual fascination. This entangled relationship is especially vivid when viewed through literature, illustration, film, and fine art, and when traced through the influence of American folk themes.
From Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic universe to David Lynch’s nightmarish images, and the pop-surrealist works of Mark Ryden and Marion Peck, the exhibition shows how artists through time have used the bizarre as a mirror, reflecting both our fears and our imagination.
American Weird. A Celebration of Genius explores the influence of writings of Edgar Allan Poe and specifically Poe’s disturbing 1845 poem “The Raven”, and the profound effect that the poem had on some of the greatest authors, poets, and artists of western Art and literature over the centuries.
Enter a world where the familiar is shifted toward the strange and unsettling. A poem can transform a raven into a harbinger of death, a portrait can take on a grotesque cast, and an idyllic scene can suddenly crack, revealing something dark beneath the surface.