American Gothic

Curated by Laura Hoptman, American Gothic was inspired by Grant Wood’s iconic portrait of the same title, which features a banal looking farmer couple. The works in this show address the concept of American values by exploring issues such as cultural xenophobia, regionalism and domestic iconography. As Hoptman notes, “The level of ironic intent varies with each artist, but the appreciation of the Gothic qualities of the ‘classic’ examples of our national cultural identity is a constant. It is this element of the bizarre, inherent in all the works in the exhibition which, in the spirit of Grant Wood’s American Gothic wreak havoc on the notion of a uniquely American norm—cultural, moral or political.”

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