Modern Art and Popular Culture [A]

Join us as Dr. Matthew Donahue highlights the modern art and outsider art movement of the art car and how the art car is intrinsically linked to popular culture. An art car is a modern art movement in which artists use the automobile as a canvas for artistic expression. The art car is associated with the 1960s during the rise of the pop art movement and since then the art car has developed into a modern art force with exhibitions taking place all across the United States and in galleries and museums. The presenter, Dr. Matthew Donahue, artist, musician, filmmaker and teaching professor from the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University is a long time art car artist, creating over 20 different art cars and exhibiting his art cars at exhibitions and museums all across the country.

Dr. Matthew Donahue is a Teaching Professor at the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, specializing in topics related to popular culture, popular music, film, media and culture and popular culture and the arts. He has lectured on such topics regionally, nationally and internationally and has served as an authority on popular culture topics for national and international publications. In addition to his academic work, he is also a musician, artist, filmmaker and writer. As a musician, he has released sound recordings internationally working within a variety of popular music genres. As an artist, he uses popular culture as the basis of his artistic creations working in two and three-dimensional collage/mixed media, street photography and art cars and has exhibited his work at exhibitions, galleries, festivals and museums throughout the United States. He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker for such films as “The Hines Farm Blues Club”, “The Amsterdam T-Shirt Project” and “Motorhead Matters”. Additionally, he has made documentaries on the history and culture of art cars such as “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience” and “Car Power: Another Art Car Experience”. His written work consists of the award winning “I’ll Take You There: An Oral and Photographic History of the Hines Farm Blues Club” and a collection of photography related to his art cars titled “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience” as well as writings on popular music and the arts. 

This program is made possible, in part, by Ohio Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this (publication/program/exhibition/website) do not necessarily represent those of Ohio Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.