Thanks-Cyn-ing

As we officially sign off from our 2023 AUTUMN INVITATIONAL and fully transition to UNDER $100, opening NEXT Thursday, November 30, we have to stop to recognize CYN WHY. You may ask: hey, WHY didn’t we feature this work in the countdown to the end of the Invitational? Simply put, it’s because we were aiming for 11th-hour sales (and we had a couple of those), but Cyn had sold out her seven phenomenal works. That’s no mean feat. The artist is happy to elaborate: “I love comics because each panel is a moment in time. You can orchestrate how that time flows. Or whether it flows. Comics are immediate and familiar and utterly versatile. I find comfort in airing my thoughts via boxes.” That philosophy found an immediate, receptive audience and while we are more than grateful for the contributions of all five artists — ELENA MASROUR, MICAELA PIRZIO-BIROLI, FRED PLUMLEY and HOLLY WYNN — it made Cyn an undisputed star of the show. Thank you and congratulations to all...including our lucky buyers!

CYN WHY
(in order of the portfolio shown)
“Better #1”
10 x 8
red pencil and ink on Bristol
mounted on board
90.

“Better #2”
10 x 8
red pencil and ink on Bristol
mounted on board
90.

“Better #4”
10 x 8
red pencil and ink on Bristol
mounted on board
90.

“Love Songs”
10 x 8
red pencil and ink on Bristol
mounted on board
90.

Vinum et Veritas

The truth may indeed be found in wine. But FRED PLUMLEY has managed to deliver the two side by side — or, more accurately, one inside the other — with his exceptional new series of wine box paintings, painted on all sides and featuring poetry (aka, wine box maxims), once opened. (Examples: “The line between fantasy and reality is blurred / (Big Foot is loose in NYC)” or “Everything is just going to be alright / Don’t open wounds that won’t heal”...and much more!) They are, simply put, ENCHANTING WORKS. But should you happen to stop by Saturday, sadly the 3D space will look nothing like this. Nor will other wine boxes dangle enticingly from our ceiling. (And Fred’s three terrific large canvases will not be on the Wall either.) But we hope to convince the artist to keep some of his available wine boxes for sale at offthewallgallery.org. The timing would be fortuitous, to say the least. What better holiday present could there be than a couple of nice bottles in a unique work of art?!

FRED PLUMLEY
oil paintings on utilitarian wine boxes
with a “wine box maxim” inside

#7-8: 175. each
“Your Child”
“Scared of History”

#9-12: 225. each
“Water over the Whale”
“Open Wounds”
“The Hot Soup”
“Sweet Sun”

Our Resident Dissident

As you may have noticed, last summer’s REEMERGE juried show was also a show about emergence: the revelation and addition of many new talents to our community. From the heart and, at that time in her teaching career, the heartland (namely, K-State and Manhattan, Kansas) arrived ELENA MASROUR, whose insightful, activist, playful, acerbically satiric practice — expressed in comics-influenced art — takes on the scourge of her native land. “My works are inspired by the proliferation of religious propaganda over the last 40 years in my home country, Iran, and the social changes taking place since the Revolution,” says Elena. “I represent a generation of Iranian people who aspire to be modern at a time when religious leaders continue to weaponize the rules of God to maintain control.” Her stunning new collection — this time hailing from Alabama, where she is lecturing at Birmingham-Southern College, after a faculty residency in between at the Cleveland Institute of Art — certainly nods to another sardonic cartoonist in Robert Crumb, while finding a brand-new metaphorical language as the drawings’ heroines do battle with little demons in everyday, often overtly domesticized settings. It’s all part of a life philosophy inseparable from her work. “Painting comical figures lets me imagine the fun of these individuals,” explains the artist, “and it offers my wish for contemporary Iran to become a peaceful, safe place where people can thrive.” All of these original, one-of-a-kind drawings are available for purchase right now in person or online (offthewallgallery.org).

ELENA MASROUR
(in order of the portfolio shown)
“I’m ready, how about you?”
India ink and combo brush on Bristol
11 x 14 framed (9 x 12 drawing)
500.

“Smell a bit of heaven.”
India ink and combo brush on Bristol
11 x 14 framed (9 x 12 drawing)
500.

“I can do more than that!”
India ink and combo brush on Bristol
11 x 14 framed (9 x 12 drawing)
500.

“What are you afraid of?”
India ink and combo brush on Bristol
11 x 14 framed (9 x 12 drawing)
500.

Printmaking with Purpose

Another gifted artist we were very fortunate to discover through REEMERGE in summer ‘22 is MICAELA PIRZIO-BIROLI. Their copper etching in that show, evoking medieval imagery, won over the jury and took down a prize. The artist now returns in our 2023 AUTUMN INVITATIONAL (closing Friday) with a series of new prints that shares some similar timeless qualities but brackets a wider range of inspirations. Pirzio-Biroli is even more nimble in their creative practice, which “draws from my personal history to explore themes of ritual, disability, queerness and biracial identity,” they tell us. “Working across printmaking, performance, sculpture and installation, I translate corporeal stories across multiple dimensions — moving between works on paper and forms in time and space.... In darkly humorous scenes depicting ridiculous semi-human figures, I invite my audience into the chaos and absurdity of my internal world, honoring the nonsensical as a force of resistance.” All these works are available for purchase right now in person or online (offthewallgallery.org).

MICAELA PIRZIO-BIROLI
(in order of the portfolio shown)
“Waiting for Diagnosis”
14 x 15.5 framed
four-layer woodblock reduction
325.

“Best Face Forward”
15 x 17.5 framed
woodcut
250.

“The Destroyer”
17.5 x 14.5 framed
three-layer linoleum reduction
225.

“Self Potrait”
12 x 10 framed
monotype
125.

Last Call for Brilliant Art

Our wonderful AUTUMN INVITATIONAL has flown right by. With just five days to go, we are determined to shine a spotlight on multiple works from each of the five talented OFF THE WALL veterans who are our 2023 invitees. We’ll start with HOLLY WYNN, a painter who has built a devoted following in our space since debuting in REEMERGE, the 2022 juried show that examined how the pandemic impacted the creatives in our community. Eighteen months, six sales and three awards later, she returns with four new works that take you inside her practice and unique point of view. “I’ve recently found myself creating representations of specific emotions and experiences, through a surreal, colorful and sometimes silly lens,” says the artist. “I’ve also enjoyed experimenting with different techniques and processes, both in oil and acrylic paint, frequently swapping preference between the two. My goal in trying new things is often to create more depth in the painting to draw the viewer in further — almost like they’re ‘in there.’” Note that all work shown here is available for purchase right now in person or online (offthewallgallery.org).

HOLLY WYNN
(in order of the portfolio shown)
“You Said You Wanted a Cake”
8 x 8
oil on canvas
250.

“I Think I’ve Outgrown This Pot”
8 x 10
oil on panel
250.

“Something’s Fishy”
8 x 10
acrylic on panel
220.

“I’m All out of Ideas”
8 x 8
acrylic on canvas
190.

Doubleheader Today

No doubt, many are going to book it out of work just a little early to make it to a screen for NLCS Game3, with its 5:07 start time. We humbly suggest you choose the big screen at DIRTY FRANK'S. And after the #heroics of Schwarber-Turner-Harper-Realmuto-Castellanos, we invite you to transition to our OFF THE WALL lineup: Masrour...Pirzio-Biroli...Plumley...Why...and Wynn with the OPENING RECEPTION of the 2023 AUTUMN INVITATIONAL. To be frank (which we always are at Frank’s), it’s ONE BIG PARTY! So doubles, double plays, punchouts and long balls, 5-8 PM. Then drawing and illustration, painting (including 3D wine box paintings), and printmaking, 7-10 PM. Drinks, conversation and curator JODY SWEITZER, who will bartend, then cede her gig to ROSE COSSABONE and host, ensure that the fun, red dots and #RedOctober pick up momentum throughout. See you tonight!