American Gothic #5 Print

12" x 12"

Matte Finish

Unframed Fine Art Print on Archive Paper

In creating this foreboding piece, Denny chose to rework an earlier, failed painting of his. The geometric shapes flanking the two dark characters like a decorative border, had represented letters from the Roman Alphabet. The shapes had a Rune-like quality, so he decided to keep them. To reinterpret Grant Wood’s 1930 painting, Denny replaced the traditional characters with classic monsters and reset the scene for nighttime. Initially, He was going to pair Dracula with The Wolf Man, but decided to keep Dracula’s partner female, much like Wood’s two figures. Denny chose Carmilla, a female vampire from Josephe Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel, which predates Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” by 25 years. The two Gothic characters exemplify the “Spirit” of the artwork’s title quite nicely.