Sarah Bereza, Maya Brym, Tom Costa, Kirk Fanelly, Nicole Gordon, John Jacobsmeyer, Panni Malek, Ryan Seng, John Tarahteeff, Robin Williams

“American Dream” weaves together the disparate visions of 10 great painters from across the country. In these past few months the mood has changed. What once we took for granted appears to have vanished. America is a landscape, and a mythology. The most interesting of artists now stand perplexed.

The origin of the phrase “The American Dream” traces back to 1931, during the height of the Great Depression, when James Truslow Adams used it in his book Epic of America to talk about opportunities in this country for upward social mobility and prosperity. It didn’t matter that it simply wasn’t so. As a myth, it was compelling.

Many of us have 1930s on the brain right now. Time of hardship. The deco styles and regionalist art of that era feel so strong and simple and confident and hopeful. We can understand their appeal. During hard times, people need their dreams. Be they good, bad, or perfectly surreal, in the end, they’re all we have.