Rank concerns those already on the inside, where many of us would like to imagine ourselves being. Or would we? This discussion explores whether the regional artist—the community-college studio teacher, the local figurative sculptor—might present a viable model for contemporary artists, not just pragmatically, but conceptually: by dint of being slightly outside the mainstream, regionalism alleviates the conventional demands of art (being critical, resisting commodity, historical awareness), and opens up new arenas for art.