Centuries of human artistic expression — from cave paintings to Roman frescoes, from Rembrandt to Warhol — have led up to this.

By "this" we mean the Nicolas Cage Art Party, a celebration of Cage-themed artwork — some of it quite well done — that will pay homage to the delightfully dreadful actor much of the Internet loves to hate when not hating itself for loving him.

That's right: A Cage-themed art show, believed to be the world's first, is real and coming to San Francisco, Calif. Then it will mosey south for an encore in Los Angeles in July. More than a thousand people have already RSVP'd on Facebook to the San Francisco event, which starts at 7 p.m. on April 12 at a nightclub called Balançoire in the city's trendy Mission District.

Because, after all, doesn't a man who's capable of producing cinema like, well, this deserve such a fête?

The Nicolas Cage Art Party (alternately called the Nicolas Cage Art Show and Musical Shenanigans) is the brainchild of Ezra Croft. Croft is 35 years old, a Burning Man veteran, an avid cyclist and a Bay Area DJ who works at Bed Bath & Beyond to pay the bills. He was working an overnight shift at BB&B one night and looking at Reddit — where the One True God subreddit extolls the virtues of all things Cage — when the concept crept into his brain.

"It didn't start out as a joke," Croft says, before adding with a laugh: "But it didn't start out not as a joke, either."

After conceptualizing the idea and seeing it through, Croft began putting up calls for submissions on Craigslist boards all over the world. Submissions have since poured in from points across globe — France, Nigeria and Japan, for example.

We should all be grateful for Croft's joke-not-joke though, because without it we wouldn't have pieces like this:

Image: Rachel McPhereson/Nicolas Cage Art Party

About 90 pieces in total, representing a vast range of styles, will be on display at Saturday's show, including this one depicting Cage as hero Cameron Poe in the timeless 1997 classic Con Air.

Image: Louis Tinoco/Nicolas Cage Art Party

So why Cage? Croft says the Internet's strange obsession with him was the clincher — plus, he says, "the whole Grumpy Cat art thing kind of came and went."

But Croft also adds that there's something a little more serious behind the show — the idea of taking something as fatuous as an Internet meme and using it to inspire real art.

Some of the submissions have come from what Croft calls "insanely talented" artists. "Then you have the fact that it's Nicolas Cage," he says. "It's like cat videos directed by Martin Scorsese."

Scorsese may be a stretch, but Croft isn't lying about the talent some of these folks possess. To wit:

Image: Timothy Tang/Nicolas Cage Art Party

There will plenty more than just creepily well-done paintings of Nicolas Cage to titillate the senses on Saturday, too.

Croft promises a range of musical acts, including one that comes with an interpretive dancer named "Beany." Beany, it should be added, is a bearded man who weighs 300 pounds.

Image: Steven Holliday/Nicolas Cage Art Party

As the Cage festival picked up steam, Croft decided to expand it to L.A. in the summer. But something bigger — "even more grandiose," Croft says — is coming later this year: a Bill Murray-themed art exhibition that will make a four-city tour through San Francisco, L.A., Seattle and New York.

Why? "Because Bill Murray," Croft explains.

Well said. Until then, however, we'll all just have to settle for Cage.

Image: Marguerite Kalhor/Nicolas Cage Art Party