The Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the world's largest poster collections. What it doesn't have is Death Cab for Cutie.

In the words of Seth Cohen: Um, hello, like anything else matters.

Featuring 400 posters for bands and artists such as Elvis Costello, Bright Eyes, Blondie and The Cure, "Graphic Noise: Art at 1,000 dB" highlights the biggest names in contemporary poster design, including Jeff Kleinsmith, Tara McPherson and Jesse LeDoux. Local artists include Tim Gough, James Heimer and Pushmepullyou's Eleanor Grosch.

At first glance, the splashy-bright collection appears to have a monopoly on all things cute and pastel. But look again and something more sinister emerges. Amidst the images of kissing fish and happy rowboats are pinwheels made of eyeballs, whales eating bicyclists, disemboweled unicorns, parachuting cinderblocks and hearts swarming with flies.

Sandy Stewart, the graphics design program director at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, couldn't be more psyched to unpack the collection at Drexel. The show broke attendance records at the Museum of Design in Atlanta, and Philly is its only stop in the tri-state area. (Eat that, New York.)

"The poster has scale," says Stuart. "It has that immediate traffic-stopping, attention-getting sensibility." Not to mention posters have always served as a kind of barometer, mirroring the social, political and cultural events of the day. From Lenin's red-and-black propaganda machine and Big Bro's finger-pointing Uncle Sam to Jefferson Airplane's live-at-the-Fillmore posters, pretty pictures carry a lot of weight cross-culturally. Just ask Lissitzky, Chéret or Beardsley—dudes are making a killing on eBay these days.

"All art is pop art," says Stewart. "It doesn't matter if your client is the pope and you're painting the Sistine Chapel, or drawing a poster for a rock band. This is the future, kids. Collect 'em while you can."

"Graphic Noise: Art at 1,000 dB" runs April 3-28, opening reception Wed., April 5, 5-9 p.m., free, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Nesbitt Hall, Drexel University, 33rd and Market sts., 215-895-2548.