Salvation Nears

The response to SAVE DIRTY FRANK'S / SAVE THE WORLD was out of this world: 63 artists contributed 138 works (!!) — easily surpassing our expectations, especially given the two-week window for this important call for art. Many thanks to hese generous and talented individuals who have rallied around us. Starting this Friday, January 15, at 5 PM and continuing for 50 HOURS, through Sunday at 7 PM, we will auction much of this art on our DIRTY FRANK'S Instagram: @dirtyfranksbar. While the bidding will happen there, rest assured right here on the OFF THE WALL feed, we will be aiming to generate plenty of interest. And remember that ALL SALES will directly benefit Frank's, helping to keep our doors open (AFTER a cold weather hiatus just around the corner) and to keep our community together. Then on INAUGURATION DAY, Wednesday, January 20, we will gather at Happy Hour to celebrate the success of this first-ever auction — shortly after oaths of office have ensured the SAVE THE WORLD part of this undertaking's bold mission. Thank you in advance for giving, for bidding, for spreading the word and for raising a glass with us!

Answering Adversity

This year has been all about overcoming. Challenges that have no ethnicity or nationality, COVID first among these. Bigotry that also sadly knows no geographic boundaries, countered by the global resurgence of Black Lives Matter. And divisiveness and hatred that are 100% American. Think the Presidential election and, top of mind right now, the two Georgia Senate runoffs next Tuesday. ART IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS, our current show, features not only NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD’s iconic portraiture but her inspiring renditions of button art that crosses generational lines without missing a beat. May 2021 be a year when we can say, “We Have Overcome,” from vaccines and listening to scientists to the most widely embraced Juneteenth and action leading to true change — change for the sake of generations yet to come. (And now, on a lighter note, we’re turning on Netflix and tuning into DEATH TO 2020....)

NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD
“We Shall Overcome”
hand-drawn illustration
ink on paper
145. framed
multiple unique originals available

Outside the Box

As much as any artist in our community, BOB GORCHOV forces us to think freely, non-linearly, untraditionally. Even when he does employ geometric boundaries, they seldom constrict the flow of his creativity or the range of ideas conveyed on his canvases. For Boxing Day, we couldn’t help but choose one of his paintings that embodies this seeming paradox. Plus, our posts now and in the days ahead are reminders that even as we plan — and you generously support — the rollout of SAVE DIRTY FRANK’S / SAVE THE WORLD, our current show continues. And, in case you were wondering: YES, both Bob and Natalie Hope McDonald will be in our online auction, too. That's the kind of amazing artists who have fueled OFF THE WALL for 42 years (this month)...and counting!

BOB GORCHOV
“beyond the city”
mixed media on canvasette
165.

'Tis the Season to Give

Tomorrow we will announce our first CALL FOR ART in quite some time — and with any luck, the first of three over the next 11 months. Some of that luck revolves around our success as a society working together to contain the pandemic. Some of it depends on the generosity of our community of artists, who never ceases to amaze us. For OFF THE WALL GALLERY to persist, entering is 43rd year, we need our home, Dirty Frank’s, to thrive. While hundreds of friends have rallied around Frank’s — through their patronage since we managed to reopen in July and, when they couldn’t be with us, a steady stream of online gifts — winter will tell a different story. No doubt, as the snow reminded us last week, Dirty Frank’s will have to close for a time in February and perhaps into March. (And pay no heed to those bizarre temperatures tomorrow...the third official day of winter!) To make it through the next couple of months, we plan to hold a benefit ART AUCTION — one of the things we do best! — and tomorrow will start a two-week window to contribute artwork that, with robust bidding and sales, can become our lifeline. Please MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the auction dates — Friday, January 15 through Sunday, January 17 — and look for our official announcement on Christmas Eve. Thank you in advance for your support, as artists, as buyers...and always, as part of our family!

Traveling Wares...Today!

In a year when we can no longer rely on any of our most anticipated gatherings, events and highlights, we are particularly thrilled to roll out the red carpet for our 29th TRAVELING WARES show — the first such show to be staged in an outdoor, socially distanced format. FROM 1 TO 4 PM TODAY ONLY, we look forward to welcoming more than a dozen artists/craftspeople, including TW founder JODY SWEITZER, and their usable, wearable, hangable, totable, lovable items, all available for purchase. So please join us in just a few hours as Philly’s original, pioneering HOLIDAY CRAFTS SHOW connects you to that last-minute, one-of-a-kind gifts that will make your holiday — and the holiday of someone you love — that much brighter. As usual, the amazing HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS will be pouring our favorite drinks. Plus, you can take advantage of our new cozy, heated, sheltered outdoor seating. It’s beginning to (finally) feel a lot like...well, a normal holiday season!

Food Is Love

The days dwindle to a precious few, when we can still send holiday cards. (Or you could always change gears to New Year's cards....) Nonetheless, we want to share a favorite new set of cards from the ever-prolific NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD, whose original art is front and center, alongside Bob Gorchov’s paintings, in our current show. Natalie volunteered to create new art for MANNA, a most worthy organization that connects underserved, undernourished, housebound (even before COVID) Philly residents with healthy meals customized to taste, culture and specific doctor-prescribed diets. Founded in 1990 to feed members of our community dying of AIDS, MANNA has since expanded its reach to serve many more. To date, they have cooked and delivered some 17 million meals to more than 30,000 vulnerable Philadelphians. What could be better than the opportunity to share this love with a Natalie-penned card celebrating the spirit of the season?!? Visit mannaholiday.org today.

A Second Crazy Night

Two down, six to go...in the miraculous Chanukah count. And who better to embody over-the-top celebration than BOB GORCHOV. Characters in his paintings often personify mood swings, in a positive sense, as he translates rushes of joy, irreverence and frenetic energy onto the canvas. As Bob sometimes does, he cites a starting point for this work -- in this case, Grant Wood's "American Gothic" -- but the finished work has pitchforked far away any notion of that antecedent. Only dual figures remain, and with any luck, new inspiration touches us.

BOB GORCHOV
“two heads [American Gothic]”
mixed media on canvasette
150.

Black Lives Friday

With Black Friday becoming more or less Cyber Black Friday — so how not to make Cyber Monday feel repetitious?!? — and 2020 being 2020, we might as well put the Black back in "Black." NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD puts us face to face with a number of figures that fit the bill, including this hand-drawn work. Long before BLM amalgamated the frustration, pain, and desire for lasting change of multiple generations, there was Shelton Jackson Lee, a son of Brooklyn whose birth certificate and college diploma read Atlanta, but whose high-voltage artistry was, and is, charged on the streets of Cobble Hill, Crown Heights and Fort Greene. The artist brings to life Mr. Lee’s seering, seeking gaze in her larger icon series, which has its own rhythm and precision, with impeccable line detail that sets a new standard among Natalie’s always riveting portraiture. And if you’re looking for films to see and haven't yet checked out the latest joint from Spike, Da 5 Bloods, we strongly encourage you do so now on Netflix. The gripping film might well garner Oscar attention (as Hollywood scrambles to catch up with missing accolades) and features an indelible penultimate performance from the late, great Chadwick Boseman.

NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD
“Spike Lee”
hand-drawn illustration
ink on acid-free paper
225. framed
multiple unique originals available

One for the Road

A bird has been the focal point of the day for most of us — cooking and consuming and savoring the said avian. While turkey leftovers and sandwiches await us tomorrow, we wrap the day not with a flightless meleagris gallopavo domesticusbut with a flight of fancy courtesy of the vivid imagination and renderings of BOB GORCHOV, one of our favorite painters. We can only hope your Thanksgiving gatherings, though smaller than usual, have been as bright and festive as this canvas, among the many works we continue to show as part of our long-running ART IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS. And we look forward to seeing you later this holiday weekend at Dirty Frank's (2-10 PM Friday and 1-10 PM Saturday and Sunday)!

BOB GORCHOV
“lady with bird”
mixed media
250.

The Hardest Work Lies Ahead

We choose for our first post after the culmination Saturday of a miraculous grassroots surge none other than James Baldwin. As part of her golden icon series, NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD captures the great man's dignity, humanity, defiance, courage and wondrous insight. The throughlines from Baldwin to our community are many, none closer to home than Giovanni's Room -- the Baldwin novel that became the eponymous and history-making LGBTQIA+ bookstore, now run by Philly AIDS Thrift, which we are very proud to call our neighbor. In fact, the store's location at 12th and Pine opened in 1979, shortly after the first Off the Wall show. Ever intrigued by social structures and drawn to the tides of politics, Baldwin's observations are timeless and always timely -- and burn anew with the torch that I Am Not Your Negro rekindled to full flame. In 1962, in the New York Times Review of Books, Baldwin wrote, "We are the generation that must throw everything into the endeavor to remake America into what we say we want it to be. Without this endeavor, we will perish." Fifteen and a half years later, in thoughts compiled by Robert Coles in the same publication, Baldwin this hard truth: "People can cry much easier than they can change.” Two score and three years later, we stand at a crossroads we have seen before, facing a not dissimilar crucible. We leave the last word to Baldwin, the next action to you. "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."

NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD
"James Baldwin"
hand-drawn illustration
ink and pain on acid-free paper
125. framed
multiple unique originals available

Focus on Art, Not Numbers

We all desperately need a distraction this week as the crucial mail-in ballots are counted and we build levees to hold back the flood of misinformation. Fortunately, FOR LGBTQIA+ ARTISTS in our community, we have just the thing. While we were forced to cancel our 16th Annual Juried Exhibition, our friends at WILLIAM WAY smartly shifted their 15th such event to an ONLINE FORMAT, meaning we have the first major CALL FOR ART in the neighborhood in quite some time. The show goes live in January BUT THE DEADLINE IS ALMOST HERE: this Friday, November 6, at 11:59 PM. Open to all media, it rises to the top as our definitive "critic's pick" among opportunities to show your work, especially with $1,200 in prize money to be awarded as well as a future gig for a trio of lucky artists: a three-person William Way show (which may be online or in person), also in 2021. And if you happen to need one more reason to enter, the show's juror is the one and only artist-activist-educator-convener (feel free to add more hyphenates!) HEATHER RAQUEL PHILLIPS. Yes, Heather will choose the work — and you will amplify your voice and broaden your audience! Say no more. Get those entries ready.

Together We Create a Better Tomorrow

Today is about taking action — VOTE NOW (if you haven't already) — and also about coping with an unmistakable, even overwhelming sense of anxiety. With this canvas, BOB GORCHOV interweaves these notions of creativity and existential crisis. The visceral nature of the artist's work suits the moment. And it may well have to fit more than one day of dread, should this election be as close, contested and adjudicated as many think it will be. Others predict an uprising of sorts, the outcome we would most love to see. In the meantime, our thanks to all who have spoken out with their vote and our lasting gratitude to the resolute souls in this community who have worked hard today and for the past weeks and months to ensure we save the Republic. Your determination means everything. After all, our collective future hangs in the balance.

BOB GORCHOV
“Art Angst Art”
mixed media on canvasette
225.

Still Mourning a Hero

It’s the second Tuesday in October — guess we should have posted this eight days ago (if we had faith left in SCOTUS) — and our feelings of deepest sadness at the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg have not subsided. For us and most likely for you, they’ve just been intermingled with dread, given the current proceedings on Capitol Hill. But the highest court in the land turning red cannot sway us from the legacy of a Brooklynite who changed the course of judicial history — and history itself — especially for the disenfranchised and powerless, those whose voices are muted and whose rights are endangered. NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD’s new “gold icon” series features, among 10 such works, a sterner visage from a great leader who stood for, and argued for, the full gamut of the human rights agenda. It’s almost as if she knows this agenda will be burned to the ground at every possible turn over the next decade or two....

NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD
“RBG”
hand-drawn illustration
ink and paint on acid-free paper
125. framed
multiple unique originals available

The Year that Canceled on Us

We've been promising an "official" posting for a while: yes, we have NO YEAR-ENDING JURIED EXHIBITION in 2020. It's still worth sharing today, which would have marked our original deadline for submissions. And true to our dedicated community, in the past 24 hours, we have received a handful of entries from individuals who didn't get word through the grapevine. We cannot wait to get back to this important part of our mission in 2021, and we fully expect to have two juried shows -- undoubtedly introducing us to many new artists, while reminding us of the abundant talent already present in our resilient community. Now, please do your part to get us there: wear your mask...and VOTE!

Introducing offthewallgallery.org

We have long considered creating a website that would add a digital platform to our shows, beyond Off the Wall’s social media venues — a way to take our popular printed programs online. Little did anyone suspect we’d be practically **shoved** into doing so by the requirements of re-opening Dirty Frank’s during COVID-19. While we can now allow a handful of customers to sit inside our front door during our 3-11 PM/WED-SUN business hours, everyone still must order at the back door, standing and milling about are not allowed, and no one can get anywhere near our new show, ART IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS. True to its name, the show is all about how we encounter and experience art right now. (In this sense, you might even say ATC, for short, boasts a truly immersive, interactive component!) It should come as no surprise then that we have officially launched offthewallgallery.org. Here you’ll find everything you would have normally found in the printed program: artist statements, images, titles, media, prices and where you can visit our artists online to see more of their work. Best of all, you have the option of purchasing online any piece from our show and having it either shipped to your home or ready for pickup at Dirty Frank’s. Yep, we’ve finally fully entered the 21st century! And what better artists to take us there than BOB GORCHOV and NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD. If we can credit a creative drive behind our move to a URL, uploading their 43 works as the first to be included in an online “program” was inspiration enough. Now, please VISIT OUR WEBSITE...and let’s get those analytics humming. Thank you in advance!

Good News/Expected News

We have happily moved from one phenomenal, marathon show right to the next one. Coming out of MARY LIZ MEMORIAL MASTERS EXHIBITION 16, which enlivened our Wall from March to this month, we now embark upon ART IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS, which will elevate our sights until March 19, 2021. The inspiration comes thanks to the hand-drawn illustrations of NATALIE HOPE MCDONALD, tapping anew into icons and iconography, and the paintings of BOB GORCHOV, which never fail to intrigue, probe and spark our imagination. What we gain is a year of two of OFF THE WALL’s best shows ever! What we have sacrificed are important opportunities for others in our community to find their way to the Wall, including this year’s previously scheduled UNDER $100 juried exhibition. (We will post an official reminder tomorrow that the year-ending call for art is not going to happen.) But the most exciting news of all is that starting next Wednesday, September 30, this show’s official first day, we will be open to limited, spaced-out, shower-curtain-divided seating INSIDE. No, you can’t get near the art — sorry but that is why we're working on an online catalog! (probably coming the week of 10/5) — and you still have to order outside at the back door, but we are ready for the change in seasons. Meanwhile, Bob and Natalie will be here to see us through fall, winter and to the doorstep of next spring!