A Crack in Overton's Window

A Crack in Overton’s Window is a group show curated by Bill Powers at The Ranch opening June 17th. The title makes reference to the political term for the normalization or life cycle of particular social behaviors. A hundred years ago, for instance, gay marriage was almost unthinkable. Fifty years ago Kusama staged one of the first gay weddings in New York City as a performative gesture. Today we have federal protections of same sex marriage. Fifty years from now such heteronormative relationships might seem completely passé. The “crack” in Overton’s Window speaks to the possibility that these degrees of socialization are not always linear in their progression. During the Abstract Expressionist era, many critics believed women could not create credible paintings on par with their male counterparts. Before William Eggleston and Saul Leiter, color photography was not viewed as seriously as black-and-white imagery. And the double meaning of the exhibition title asks us whether the window is lifted just an inch to let the breeze in or slowly shattering itself with the first blush of a hairline fracture?

Participating artists include Danielle De Jesus, Andie Dinkin, Yuan Fang, Samantha Joy Groff, Daniel Heidkamp, Asif Hoque, Jin Jeong, Mike Lee, Jacob Littlejohn, Maud Madsen, Sachi Moskowitz, Se Oh, Anisa Rakaj, Umar Rashid, Brent Richardson, B G Robinson, Kyle Staver, Brach Tiller, Lauryn Welch, Demetrius Wilson, Mark Yang, and Hiejin Yoo.