Off the Wall, launched in 2019, is a partnership between the Moody Center for the Arts and the Core Residency Program at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The series commissions Core alumni to create a site-specific installation for the Brochstein Pavilion, that remains on view for one year. The goal of the series is to meet students, faculty, staff, and visitors with innovative works of art in one of the most utilized spaces on campus, the café at the Brochstein Pavilion. To date, the artists commissioned for Off the Wall include william cordova, Danielle Dean, Harold Mendez, Sondra Perry, and Clarissa Tossin. The next installation by Karyn Olivier will open on September 27, from 5 – 7 pm. The work will remain on view through August 22, 2025.

Karyn Olivier is known for her public art, sculptural installations, and image-based work that conflate collective histories with current questions about remembrance and reconciliation. She translates her extensive research visually by manipulating familiar objects or places, thus disrupting conventional perceptions and assumptions and offering new avenues for engagement instead.   

Her work for this installation, titled Revelation, is based on a photograph that Olivier took in North Philadelphia on her commute to Temple University where she teaches. The image and neighborhood recall experiences the artist had while living locally and teaching at the University of Houston. In 2004 Olivier photographed two decaying houses in the Third Ward (Double houses). The mirrorlike symmetry and double desolation of the houses intrigued the artist, who returned a year later to photograph the same dwellings, then almost completely overgrown and returned to nature. 

Off the Wall: Karyn Olivier is organized by Frauke V. Josenhans, Curator, Moody Center for the Arts. It is made possible by Leslie and Brad Bucher and by Susan Brochstein in memory of Raymond Brochstein.