Supernatural America: the paranormal in American art

Uittreksel

"Simply put, the history of American manifest destiny is written in blood and paved with ghosts: those of Native Americans, slaves, war casualties, and countless others caught in the crosshairs of our nation's "progress." Between the trauma, bloody wars, everyday violence, and the threat (always) of nuclear annihilation, a culture of the supernatural has long been part of our heritage. This quirky book is the exhibition catalogue for "the first major assessment of the supernatural in American art." As such, it studies works from the nineteenth century to the present day, works by artists exploring all manner of things spooky from séances to UFO sightings to possession to the ghosts that stalk our battlefields, lynching sites, and the space of other unhappy adventures. The exhibition itself promises to be strong-minded and colorful. Many of the artworks on the walls and in the pages of the catalogue are captivating, creepy, or occasionally just plain silly as they explore contacts between the living and the uncanny"--

Inhoud

Foreword / Katie Luber -- Introduction : America is haunted / Robert Cozzolino -- Destinies manifest / John Jota Leaños -- Hauntology / Maria del Pilar Blanco -- Uncanny spaces / Sarah Burns -- Phantasmagoria / Wendy Bellion -- "Things not tangible" : portraits, sitters and the supernatural / Rachael Z. DeLue -- Ghosts in the machines / Brandon Hodge -- How to paint a ghost around 1900 / Adam M. Thomas -- These unseen beings / Robert Cozzolino -- Dust / Tony Oursler -- Magic's deconstruction of art, science, and religion / George P. Hansen -- Wilson Bentley's army of souls / Alexander Nemerov -- Bringing the invisible to light : aura and psychic photography / Michelle Donnelly -- Black black magic / Bridget R. Cooks -- The rootworker's worktable / Renée Stout -- Contemporary witch culture / Lacey Prpić Hedtke -- Goddess, body, and earth : feminist spirits in the 1970s / Rachel Middleman -- Popular culture and the paranormal/supernatural / Jeffrey A. Weinstock -- Appendix: Octopus series.