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!

Closing the Curtain (with a last window online only)

Last Saturday we hung our newest eye-opening show, the 2023 AUTUMN INVITATIONAL, while taking down and saying a bittersweet farewell to its simply marvelous predecessor, MEMORIES & MUSINGS. With our OPENING for the INVITATIONAL, which would normally take place tonight, not slated until the 19th, we are leaving MEMORIES & MUSINGS online through this weekend, offering everyone a chance to peruse the art and possibly make a purchase. One of the most exciting aspects of the past show — which also featured OFF THE WALL veterans MASON CARTER, OLIVIA DUFFY and CAROL TASHJIAN, as well as SHOSHANA LEVENSON in her first show in our space — was a unique look back on four decades of work from one of the most esteemed artists in our community: ALICE MEYER-WALLACE. Brilliantly curated by JODY SWIETZER, the collection was one of the most inspiring and revealing retrospectives we have ever mounted. For this alone, we encourage you, especially if you didn't see the show in person, to visit offthewallgallery.org. As Jody puts it, “Alice is an absolute cultural treasure trove...the true definition of an Artist.”

ALICE MEYER-WALLACE
“Monument”
11.5 x 13.5
collage with watercolor
ca. 1960s
450.

It's Baack!

Opportunity is born...and reborn...at the end of each calendar year — for the artists and art lovers in our community. It's a process that has taken place here at OFF THE WALL every November and December (not counting the pandemic years) since 2017, and it can be summed up in two words...UNDER $100! Far and away our most popular and successful juried show — known for its diversity of voices, plentitude of sales (thanks, in part, to its conjunction with the holiday season!) and track record as a launching pad to future shows in our space — UNDER $100 also boasts our most prestigious award, the MARY-ROWE MEMORIAL JURY PRIZE, and at least $600 (probably closer to $700) in CASH PRIZES. These are funded through our $10 PER PIECE HANGING FEE for accepted artists, which also means there is NO ENTRY FEE! Check out the entry guidelines above, which are also available in Dirty Frank's and here on our website. We look forward to your entries and, to all our collectors, to your attendance, support and acquisitions!

62.62 Fahrenheit

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction announced that our planet experienced this past week the highest average global temperature in recorded history. First, Monday was the hottest day ever. Then it was the Fourth of July. The records will sadly keep tumbling. For the past year, KAREN STABENOW has been our community’s gadfly in regard to these alarming trends. While SUMMER SOLSTICE does not include her call-to-action melting Arctic landscapes, her three paintings do spotlight critical issues, from rising sea levels to Arctic drilling, The artist tells us, “I paint with oil to communicate the climate change in the North and South Poles.... These changes are caused by the use of coal, oil and methane, resulting in melting ice, sea rising, vanishing glaciers, fractured landscapes, extinction, and in the Antarctic, icebergs turn green from the warming iron-rich sea water and algae.”

KAREN STABENOW
“Arctic Drilling”
12.5 x 25
oil on panel
400.

Didn't We Promise You Fireworks?

We cannot let the Fourth of July pass without sharing one memorable work from our last show, MLMME18. Like so many of SERGE KRUPNOV’s marvelous paintings, it conveys nostalgia and simple beauty with understated eloquence. No longer available for purchase, since it is one of the artist’s  14 sales from the hit show, it’s now a memory — like those from today and tonight — well worth holding on to.

SERGE KRUPNOV
“Fourth of July”
15 x 16
oil on panel
200.

Red, White and Few

Happy Fourth! But it's symbiosis, not independence -- FLOSS BARBER reminds us -- that is the key to all ecosystems. Making her debut in our space, Floss is among a coterie of SUMMER SOLSTICE artists whose work focuses on vulnerable fish and wildlife. "Fish and crabs are vital to our environment and the fishing communities of local Delaware Bay," says the artist. "They transfer energy up and down the food chain, fulfill important ecological roles and help stabilize our ecosystems. By employing the colors of the American flag, I can grab the attention of the community to draw attention to the need to preserve endangered species." Do your part. Conservation is patriotic!

FLOSS BARBER
“White Perch: Morone americana”
9 x 12
oil and acrylic
100.

Down the Shore

We’re going to use this week to spotlight our jury’s award winners. What better place to start than the work that took down ULTIMATE JERSEY VIBE? Over the past 15 months, ASYA LIVSHITS has been an ascendant force among painters in our community — beginning with a first appearance at Dirty’s as part of our pro-Ukraine pop-up show in May 2022, quickly followed by her head-turning OFF THE WALL debut in REEMERGE that summer. She hits another high-water mark with three oils in SUMMER SOLSTICE. Like many of her colleagues, Asya acknowledges that creating art in all four seasons may not last if we do not change. “A lot of my work is set in nature. Seasons and light consequently play major roles in my art,” she explains. “This makes me more aware of climate, and my work speaks to the crisis we face.”

ASYA LIVSHITS
“Ocean City”
11 x 14
oil on board
400.

Toasting Our Award Winners

Summer is officially underway...and so is SUMMER SOLSTICE, the show, which opened last Thursday evening to acclaim, enthusiastic crowds and continuing sales! Please visit in person and also look for us to feature works from the show in our posts over the next seven weeks. We'll start at the top, as critiqued by OUR JURY. The five members of our panel — IRVING XCHEL CHAN GOMEZ, JON LAIDACKER, NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD, KAREN RODEWALD and JODY SWEITZER — elevated eight of our artists with their JURY CITATIONS. In this lofty company, HOLLY WYNN took BEST OF SHOW for her captivating take on iconic imagery, speaking both to climate change and to the artist in every season. “Living in a place with four seasons does affect my creative process,” says Holly, “particularly in the winter, when bouts of seasonal depression make it hard to put my energy and care into my art. This piece captures the isolation and loneliness that come in and leave me feeling uninspired and unsure what to do.” Please lift your glasses to Holly and her heralded colleagues:

BEST OF SHOW: Holly Wynn’s “My Own Little Iceberg” (PICTURED HERE)
SOLSTICE AWARD (from Druid Society of Dirty Frank’s): Joseph Eggleston’s “Samsara”
ULTIMATE JERSEY VIBE: Asya Livshits’ “Ocean City”
MOST SUBMERSIVE: Maryanne Buschini’s “Floating”
MOST NOSTALGIC: David Helwer’s “Gathering Eggs”
MOST SUSTAINABLE: Jennifer Barrile’s “Salem Harbor”
BIGGEST REALITY CHECK: Robin Brownfield’s “Say Goodbye”
MOST PROMISING DEBUT: Som-Mai Nguyen’s “Flood 2”

Today in Every Way

TODAY IN EVERY WAY: We haven’t even wrapped the kickoff to our summer juried show, but we will swivel the spotlight this afternoon so it shines on FRANK SHERLOCK, our resident bard of DIRTY FRANK’S and past Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, who is releasing his new poetry chapbook, TOMORROW SOMEHOW, today (6/25) with a 5-7 PM RELEASE PARTY. So please join us for your favorite drinks, poured by the incomparable HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS...a nice spread of food, courtesy of JEANNE PHILLIPS...the opportunity to PURCHASE Frank's new collection, which is all too happy to sign and inscribe...a FREE BROADSIDE for the first 25 buyers...and, to top it all, an OUTDOOR READING at 6:00. If you’re in town or on your way back, we can think of no better way to cap a lovely weekend. See you soon!

Solstice Now...and Tomorrow

Summer solstice just officially happened — at 10:57 AM EDT, to be exact — so HAPPY SOLSTICE! (And, yes, the days get shorter from here.) But we have a way you can extend this nature-embracing celebration right through tomorrow night. Why not join us for the OPENING RECEPTION for SUMMER SOLSTICE, THE SHOW? Our 7-10 PM reception will mark Off the Wall’s 17th Annual Summer Juried Show as we welcome 38 amazing artists, eight of them new to our space. Their art does more than lift up a single day or season. Many of the 70 works on display signal a dire warning that if we do not quickly make inroads on climate change, we will lose the privilege of enjoying four distinct seasons. But it’s not all ominous tidings. Tomorrow evening (and every day through August 18) you can experience inspiring artwork that will feed your soul and spur you to action, while also enjoying your favorite drinks, energizing conservation and the delectable light hors d’oeuvres that are the order of the day. Plus, we will announce the jury’s eight award winners. We look forward to seeing you soon!

End of Our Show

We have not shined a bright enough or wide enough spotlight on the artists of MARY LIZ MEMORIAL MASTERS EXHIBITION 18 (MLMME18). Nevertheless, we bid a fond farewell to these immense talents, fully confident that we will see and show their art again soon. In some cases, very soon; Karen Stabenow, in fact, will be back with several pieces in our SUMMER SOLSTICE juried show, which goes up Saturday and opens next Thursday. But what better way to start saying goodbye than with a coda painting of sorts from Serge Krupnov, who made a tour de force debut in our space with 15 sales. Serge is a master of evoking a sense of time and place in his canvases, which resonated deeply with our audiences. In this case, he chooses the end of summer — even, ironically, as we officially greet that season with the theme and timing of our next outing.

SERGE KRUPNOV
“End of Summer”
oil on panel
500.

Welcome to the Longest Day

We certainly honor D-Day, 79 years on, and those who gave so much for freedom. But in this case, we’re talking about the longest day of the year — and proudly introducing the 38 artists of SUMMER SOLSTICE. While our 17th annual summer juried show deals with creating art in all four seasons, the existential crisis that is climate change clearly rose to the top as the urgent theme of many of the 70 works chosen. We cordially invite you to meet our artists, including a talented octet making their Off the Wall debuts, and see what they have to say at our OPENING RECEPTION: 7-10 PM on THURSDAY, JUNE 22 (incidentally the day after the actual Solstice). In the meantime, enjoy the extra sun and, above all, CONGRATS to those listed above!

Come Celebrate!

Today in particular and all month long, we will shine a spotlight on PRIDE at DIRTY FRANK’S and OFF THE WALL — not to mention, up and down 13TH STREET, the Main Street of our Gayborhood. If you are dropping by after the parade and amid the many festivities, please make the NE Corner of 13th and Pine a destination. The amazing HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS is behind the bar...proceeds of Strawberry Blonde by Evil Genius will benefit The Trevor Project...and Off the Wall artist M.K. KOMINS is set up just outside doing caricatures en plein air. We look forward to lifting our glasses with you this afternoon and throughout June. CHEERS!

Last Call for Your Art

Today represents your final chance to enter this summer's OFF THE WALL juried show...and to share with our jury how your art celebrates summer itself — and speaks to making art in all the seasons. Since enjoying four distinctive seasons may quickly become a thing of the past, many entrants are also choosing to speak to climate change, which makes perfect sense. Your point of view matters. So if you have not entered and want to, please look at your body of work to find the connection you want to make. You can submit up to five works that meet our size requirements (48” or less in combined dimensions: height + width) to offthewallgallery@gmail.com by 11:59 PM TONIGHT (Thursday, May 25). You should also send questions our way, including requests for a brief extension, which we may be able to accommodate. SUMMER SOLSTICE runs from June 18 to August 18, and accepted, ready-to-hang work must be dropped off on Saturday, June 17. We look forward to considering your outstanding art!

30 Hours from Now

Our MARY LIZ MEMORIAL MASTERS EXHIBITION (MLMME18) always marks a high tide in the annual calendar of OFF THE WALL shows. This year is no exception, as we raise the curtain on this year’s renewal with an OPENING RECEPTION on THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 7-10 PM. CHARLES EMLEN returns from an electrifying debut in our space in PROCESSES INTERSECTING SPACES, with eight major sculptures that deftly marry the conceptual with the traditional. SERGE KRUPNOV shows a range of theme and a depth of talent with 23 paintings, ranging from riveting portraiture to lucid moments of transcendent, sometimes fleeting beauty. And with 16 works, KAREN STABENOW puts the emphasis on “fleeting” with Arctic paintings that signal our planet in crisis, paired with Philly-centric bridgescapes. We cordially invite you to join us tomorrow to celebrate a phenomenal show and to meet the artists. Other luminaries on hand will include curator JODY SWEITZER and bartender ROSE COSSABONE, pouring your favorite drinks. But the true stars, as always, are on the Wall and in our 3D case. We look forward to seeing you soon!

30 Days to Enter

Between now and May 25, our summer juried show, aptly entitled SUMMER SOLSTICE, seeks outstanding art in all media that celebrates the opportunity to create in a climate that experiences all four seasons. And acknowledging that our climate is changing — along with every other one on earth — we also invite artists to speak to this change and to advocate for ways to slow climate change. As always, the summer version of OFF THE WALL’s popular juried shows has no entry fee and no hanging fee. The only stipulations are SIZE — 2D work must be less than 48" in combined dimensions (height+width) — and, in the jury’s eyes, PRICE. We connect artwork accepted into our shows with many buyers, but we have the greatest success when your work is competitively priced. Email images to offthewallgallery@gmail.com, along with all required information. Details are above and, for an easier-to-read version, at offthewallgallery.org/call-for-entries. We look forward to considering your art!

Stardust

Two extraordinary artists made overdue OFF THE WALL debuts in PROCESSES INTERSECTING SPACES. While CHARLES EMLEN isn’t going anywhere — his sculptures are in our next show — we must bid farewell to PAULA GILLEN and her SUPERPOWER WOMEN IN SPACE. Some protagonists in her digital photomontages are larger than life; others are seemingly mired in workaday life…only it’s in outer space! The work fits perfectly with Paula’s penchant for biting social commentary and her prevailing sense of humor. “Influenced by Surrealism, Feminism and The Pictures Generation, my work strives to be satirical, irreverent and playful,” the artist tells us. In the world she has created for this captivating series, “forward-thinking women are in charge — and there’s a trap door to Earth if you get out of line.” After Friday, alas, we have to pop that trap door and simply wait until Paula returns to our Wall.

PAULA GILLEN
“Domestic Space”
18 x 16
aluminum print of
digital photomontage
300.

Pure Craft

With PROCESSES INTERSECTING SPACES well into its final week, it’s the last chance for fans of our five amazing artists to fall in love — and welcome great art into their homes. The latest such acquisition, soon bound for the West Coast, is this marvelous canvas from JOSEPH EGGLESTON. Part of a newer series inspired by his favorite horror flicks, this painting offers an imagined scene from 1996’s “The Craft.” Says the artist of the larger works in the set, “All of these paintings are created from using multiple image stills [from the film] to make something old anew, like rearranging puzzle pieces. In fact, some sections are completely made up but still capture a feeling of nostalgia and a fondness of where it was derived. I opt for the long landscape-style canvas to recreate the feeling of a ‘widescreen’ video format and place figures in different positions to suggest movement. My desire is to try and make it feel like we are peeking in on a moment in time that has been captured with some wild paint strokes.” But while every cult classic deserves re-viewing, the streaming platform that is our Wall is taking down these titles after this Friday. So come in and log on while you can!

JOSEPH EGGLESTON
“Who’s Connie Francis? Honey, Listen and Learn”
18 x 36
oil and acrylic on canvas
1100.

New Math

As our boffo OPENING RECEPTION draws to a close — though we intend to keep the party going until the end of the night! — we need to bring into the fold of today’s posts one more artist. We first called out CHARLES EMLEN’s phenomenal installation in our 3D space last Saturday with a video post, but it's worth spotlighting again...plus the artist points out the calculus of his two-screen multimedia work, which suggests that PROCESSES INTERSECTING SPACES is by far our most prolific show in terms of numbers of pieces included at once. “In this installation, there are two monitors. One displays a 10-minute looping composite video. The second shows a random slideshow with roughly 110 unique images,” explains Charlie. “Assuming the video changes every 5 seconds, that alone provides approximately 120 individual scenes. Combining those scenes with the slideshow images yields well over 10,000 unique scene/image pairings! A veritable cornucopia of iterative design.” Simply WOW.

CHARLES EMLEN
“Contemplo Armamento”
composite video animation
video screens and hard drive
3000.

...Something Blue!

Looking for any color in the palette? Or for that matter, any tube on the paint rack at Dick Blick? Look no farther than the work of JOSEPH EGGLESTON. A self-confessed painter of “messy portraits,” the artist is also on a new run with his subject matter, which would fit just as neatly in the last BORROWED category. Since the pandemic, he has found himself watching and rewatching his favorite horror films, predominantly cult classics or classics-in-the-making. From there, it gets fun, as Joseph describes. “I strive to create a likeness but shy away from exact replication; it isn’t important to me if the viewer knows the source material (although it is fun when people have that AHA! moment). This idea of valuing likeness over replication made me wonder: what would happen if I manipulated the stills in order to manufacture a ‘scene’ that feels like it is from a film but doesn’t actually exist?” Many of his larger canvases in PROCESSES INTERSECTING SPACES — OPENING RECEPTION tonight (3/9), 7-10 PM —do exactly this. The smaller work, like this homage to the ouevre of Jordan Peele, focuses on pure portraiture. All of them immediately transport us. So figure out how you will get out of the house to see us and this great art...and don’t say nope!

JOSEPH EGGLESTON
“Young Red”
acrylic and charcoal pencil on wood
125.