We’re usually too busy focusing on what’s now and what’s next to stop and reflect on the history we have been making since OFF THE WALL set up shop as a formal gallery at the end of 1978. We reserve such occasions for milestones, like our 40th anniversary show, Their Names Are Not Anonymous Anymore.
Seven years on, we are choosing to toast the impact of a single show in just half that timeframe. MARY LIZ AT 20 shines a spotlight on the invitational show we consider our highest accolade, our annual Mary Liz Memorial Masters Exhibition (MLMME).
Launched in March 2005, months after the passing of the show’s honoree—our gallery’s founding director, Mary Liz Connelly—the inaugural show was something of an outlier. It became a memorial show in every sense as we showcased the work of two giants we lost far too young: Ellen Powell Tiberino and Jerome Robinson.
Until this retrospective, the first show was one of the last times we looked back. While MLMME has often singled out artists—our Mary Liz Fellows—who have been with us for years, if not decades, the show has become, under curator Jody Sweitzer, a living, breathing embodiment of art-making that doesn’t stand still. MARY LIZ AT 20 exemplifies this constant evolution.
Painting—from all perspectives, in a range of styles, at every dimension—has played an integral role in our journey. Five of our best painters are here to show us why: JEAN PLOUGH, who opened our eyes with her tour de force solo in MLMME17; SERGE KRUPNOV who likewise made a sparkling debut artist in MLMME18; two innovators of beautifully observed environments, landscapes, and architecture from earlier iterations, MATTHEW GREEN (MLMME9) and RUSSELL BRODIE (MLMME10); and ALICE MEYER WALLACE (MLMME7 and MLMME15), a master artist and teacher, who trades in her watercolors for oils this time around.
Alice also brings new collages, her mixed-media passion, and in this realm has three more compatriots: JIM BIGLAN (MLMME14 and MLMME16), who never ceases to amaze with his growing repertoire of pen and ink, collage, ceramics and more; WAYNE W. URFFER (MLMME3 and MLMME12), our favorite assemblage box artist and, along with Jim, a pointed, brilliant social commentator; and LINDSEY WAVREK, who inspires with lyrical drawings, often set among innovative combinations of materials. Lindsey’s MLMME16 could easily be called the “lost Mary Liz.” We hung the show on March 14, 2020. Enough said.
Before we revel in this art, it is important to say that MARY LIZ AT 20 breaks new ground in one more way. We’re going to present two distinct rotations over 12 electrifying weeks but ALL THE ARTWORK is available right here at offthewallgallery.org, right now. So please come in and see work in person—but remember to shop ahead online. Take everything in and ENJOY!
NOTA BENE TO ONLINE BUYERS: While we requisition in-person purchases on an almost-daily basis, it is still possible that you may purchase something on this website that may have already sold in our Gallery. We will make every effort to avoid this circumstance.
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