Obviously, Kurt Cobain is one of those voice-of-a-generation types. Therefore, it’s not surprising that there’s now a museum show devoted to his cultural influence. What is surprising is how freakin’ cool the show—entitled “Kurt” and running at the Seattle Art Museum until September 6th—ultimately comes off .

Jack Pierson, Kurt Cobain (1994)

Indeed, this isn’t some mere memorabilia exhibit. The range of artists dealing with Cobain’s legacy is surprising: Jack Pierson’s text-driven works collide up against Douglas Gordon’s identity-tweaking photographs. The breadth of work and ideas is staggering, from Jordan Kantor’s haunting paintings and Scott Fife’s sculptural popular culture to Gillian Wearing’s video art and documentary-based photography from the likes Alice Wheeler and Charles Peterson. It’s the kind of exhibition where you might come as you are, but end up changed after experiencing an icon through so many different points of view.