Market Boom Group Show

We are pleased to present Market Boom: Emerging Artists from Louisville’s East Market District 2000–2008, a group exhibition curated by artistThaniel Ion Lee

Opening reception Friday, January 30, 2026, 6:00 - 8:00pm.

2650 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206

Featuring art by: Matthew and Mitchell Bradley, Tammy Burke, Valerie Sullivan Fuchs, Maiza Hixson, John King, Thaniel Ion Lee, Cynthia Norton, Letitia Quesenberry, Michael Ratterman, and Dmitry Strakovsky.

Market Boom revisits a pivotal moment in Louisville’s cultural history—when the East Market District (now NuLu) became a dense and energetic hub for contemporary art, drawing thousands of visitors to monthly First Friday Trolley Hops and fostering a generation of artists exploring new media, ideas, and forms.

Featuring artists who were actively exhibiting in the district between 2000 and 2008, Market Boom pairs early works from that period with recent pieces, offering a rare opportunity to reflect on artistic growth, legacy, and place. Part historical record and part living conversation, the exhibition honors a formative era that helped shape Louisville’s contemporary art scene—and invites us to reconsider its lasting impact today. 

Market Boom marks the first time WheelHouse Art has invited a curator from outside our organization to shape an exhibition in our gallery—an extension of our ongoing commitment to supporting artists and fostering a space where creative exploration can grow and thrive. We are especially proud that this exhibition represents the curatorial debut of WheelHouse Artist Thaniel Ion Lee, whom we are honored to support in this new chapter of his practice.

Curator statement

"This exhibit consists of art made by artists who began working in or around Louisville, Kentucky, between 2000 and 2008. This period served as an incubator for young artists who were just beginning to explore mediums more commonly associated with larger art scenes. Working in sound,  video, performance, conceptual art, minimalism, and installation, these relatively young artists produced and told stories addressing issues that only someone from this city could express.

During this period, most of the downtown art scene was located on or near East Market Street before it was re-branded as NuLu. Galleries such as Swanson Contemporary, Zephyr, Pyro, Galerie Hertz, Gardner-Furnish, Paul Paletti, the New Center, and the Green Building were clustered there. Farther West on and near Main Street, you also had (and still have) KMAC, Actors Theatre, Louisville Glassworks, and the then-new 21C Museum Hotel. This clustering made it possible to see five or six exhibits in a single day and allowed artists to observe and learn from one another. This ease of idea-sharing would not return until uploading images and thoughts became as simple as pressing a button on a cellphone.

I have observed that within the art world, documentation—and the re-examination of that documentation—are vital to producing accurate historical records. That being said, like most small cities, Louisville has struggled to sustain a dedicated art journalism scene, galleries capable of producing proper catalogues, or the funding required to produce widely accessible books or films about its visual art community. Additionally, in the early 2000s, the lack of widespread cellphone cameras, YouTube, inexpensive websites, and digital cameras meant very little was documented, written about, or archived. This scarcity of documentation, compounded by our society’s tendency toward short-term memory, is why I feel this exhibit is necessary.

It should be noted that, due to space constraints, this show inevitably leaves many people out. There are also artists I wanted to include but could not either because I was unable to make contact with them or they had unfortunately passed away. I also primarily focused on artists of my generation (born in the 1970s– early 1980s), and, because of this, did not include artists whom I greatly respect but who are from different generations. Hopefully, this exhibit will lead to the creation of other shows and, most importantly, conversation.

When selecting the works for this exhibit, I quickly realized that the only way to approach it was to show pieces from that earlier period while also showcasing what the artists are doing now. To accomplish this, I asked each artist to submit, if possible, one or two works made before 2008 and one or two works made within the last four years. From those submissions, the artist and I selected the work(s) that reflect their aesthetic journey. I hope that in doing so, the artist feels that both their past and present selves are recognized."

--Thaniel Ion Lee