It Can Happen Here

press release: Arts + Literature Laboratory presents It Can Happen Here: a national juried exhibition that envisions our post-election future. The show title is a nod to Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 prophetic novel, It Can’t Happen Here, which imagines the rise of fascism in the United States. In an election season characterized by bigotry and extremism—filtered through the sensationalism of a ratings driven media—artists explore the simultaneous promise and fragility of democracy through the lens of collective memory, present realities, and possible futures.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Thomas Ferrella (Madison); Matthew Scott Gualco (Brooklyn); Jeff Lassahn (Chicago); Fatima Laster (Milwaukee); Stephanie Lifshutz (Brooklyn); Guzzo Pinc (Fort Atkinson); Camille Silverman (Chicago); Mark Addison Smith (New York); Bubblegum & Whiskey (Corpus Christi); Nafis White (Providence)

Exhibition on view: October 7 - October 29, 2016. Opening reception: October 7, 2017 5-9pm. Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 11am-3pm or by appointment

It Can Happen Here is organized by the Arts + Literature Laboratory Curatorial Board in collaboration with juror Reggie Baylor.

Reginald Baylor was born in November 1966 in Milwaukee. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh where he was a sculpture major and became infatuated with the philosophical theories and function of lines. Since college, he has lived and worked in Southern California at local art museums and as an owner operator for Mason Dixon Trucking in Chicago, Illinois. Reginald returned to the Milwaukee area with his young family in 1998 and later dedicated himself to pursuing a full-time career in fine art. Throughout this travel and transition, he has developed the aesthetics, craftsmanship, and straight-edge techniques of the acrylic on canvas paintings he is most known for today.

Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL) is a community art space for visual, literary and performing artists to share their work and create new connections.