What happens when Jed Clampett sits down with philosopher Theodore Adorno? When Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio find themselves discussing contemporary art with a talking horse? When Duke Ellington's definition of "good music" meets Ozark folk traditions? In " The KKK Took My Ozarks Away ," Los Angeles artist LG Williams presents a series of unexpected encounters on the shores of Table Rock Lake and in the shadow of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Through imagined conversations between unlikely participants—such as sitcom characters and critical theorists, Hollywood stars and museum curators, and a horse named Mr. Ed and the artist himself—Williams explores questions of authenticity, regionalism, and what happens when rural culture becomes high art. Centered around Williams's monumental sculpture Holy Mackerel, permanently installed in Shell Knob, Missouri, these dialogues examine the intersection of folk tradition and contemporary art practice, the tension between local identity and cosmopolitan taste, and the economics of turning "Ozark Hillbilly Art" into museum-worthy work. Part artist's book, part cultural commentary, part visual essay, The KKK Took My Ozarks Away invites readers into a conversation they won't find anywhere else—one that asks who owns regional culture, and what gets lost when the Ozarks go upscale. "A powerful and poignant memoir..." — Kirkus Reviews "A testament to the power of the artistic spirit..." — Publishers Weekly "Brave and honest storytelling..." — Booklist LG Williams is a Los Angeles-based artist and recently the Endowed University Instructor at The Academy of Art University; Robert Hughes Distinguished Visual Artist-In-Residence at The Lodge in Hollywood, CA; and the Emmy Hennings Distinguished Professor at D(D).DDDD University. LG has exhibited in various national and international venues, including The Internet Pavilion of La Biennale Di Venezia , and has appeared in Artforum , The New York Times , Times Literary Supplement , The Guardian , Japan Times , Los Angeles Times , La Stampa , Bookforum , Purple Diary , Mousse Magazine , The Brooklyn Rail among others. PCP Press is an independent publisher of avant-garde books and insurgent authors. Founded in 1990 in San Francisco at a time when transgressive and sometimes esoteric international art books had a difficult time making their way into the wider American marketplace, over the past three decades PCP has grown into a consistent publisher of books, special editions and rare publications from an array of the world’s most respected authors and cultural institutions — including Raymond Pettibon, Dave Hickey, Wayne Thiebaud, Bryan Reynolds, David Hawkes, Shepard Fairey, LG Williams, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, and Luscerne Kunstpanorama. # # # # #