Curated by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, MELLENCAMP explores the life and career of John Mellencamp, an artist famous for his heartland values and advocacy for American farmers. The exhibit is the first collaboration between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Woody Guthrie Center®.
The exhibit features photos, handwritten lyrics, a Neil Young guitar won by Mellencamp in Arn arm-wrestling match, a 1965 Honda CL77 motorcycle Mellencamp acquired while in high school, and a painting of Martin Luther King Jr. featuring the words “Martin Luther King had a dream and this ain’t it.”
“John is not here to entertain us and make us feel good. He’s here to make us think,” Woody Guthrie Center Executive Director Deana McCloud told Tulsa World. “The true artists make us think and consider the world around us instead of just entertaining us and making us feel good about everything. Sometimes you don’t want to feel good about everything. You need to have awareness.”
John Mellencamp, on the Woody Guthrie Center artist advisory board, received the Woody Guthrie Prize in 2018.
