American Gothic was a very easy location to get to. Situated on the side of Jeni’s Ice Cream right off of High Street, this is an iconic mural of the Short North. This mural was put up more than 10 years after the Mona Lisa mural, completed in 2002. The mural was done by Mike Altman and Steve Galgas and is inspired by Grant Wood’s contemporary art piece made in 1930.
In the original painting, Wood’s portrait was of his sister, Nan, and his dentist posing in front of a home in Iowa that Wood spotted that was built in a style called “Carpenter Gothic”, hence the title of the piece. It was supposedly an “affectionate portrait” of the Midwest, depicting survivors of the farming life. Wood was inspired by the Midwest style of his homeland after traveling in Europe to study art.
The original portrait is quite iconic of the Midwest farming area and of its people, so it is an appropriate mural for the arts district of the capital of a farming state, Ohio. Like the Mona Lisa mural also in the Short North, this mural has a twist on the original piece. The woman in the picture is flipped upside down, which may reflect the change in industry in Ohio from farmland to larger industrial and urban areas. As the people and the culture of any community change, the art of the time often reflects these changes. This piece is a mix between the old ways and the new times.
Sources:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/6565
http://www.americangothichouse.net/about/the-painting/
http://www.civicartsproject.com/2012/05/09/short-north-gothic-mural-in-short-north-arts-district-columbus-ohio/