The Odds in the Absurd Exhibition opens October 16 at Park Towne Place, 2200 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and it comes with a free reception on Tuesday, October 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. Six InLiquid member artists take on chance, absurdity and the question Dada made famous, “Is this art?” It stays up through January 26, 2027.

What the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition Asks

InLiquid, the Philadelphia nonprofit that has connected artists and audiences since 1999, curates the rotating exhibitions at Park Towne Place. Dada began in the early 20th century as a response to World War I, and Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades grew out of it. This show looks at that history through a contemporary lens.

The Odds in the Absurd Exhibition belongs to an ongoing program of rotating exhibitions at the complex, made possible by InLiquid’s partnership with AIR, which also helps organize public programming there. The organizers do not treat “Is this art?” as a problem to solve. They say the show affirms the question, using collaboration, repetition, ready-mades and a rejection of taste.

Memory and Color in the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition

Lisa Baird was born in Wilmington, Delaware, studied at Bowdoin College, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Maryland Institute College of Art, and directs The Hook Experiment, a nonprofit art space in Oxford, Pennsylvania. Her painting The Wedding Photographer (2026) comes from a body of work in which weddings recur. She writes that what she is “really painting is time.”

Kellianne McCarthy was born in Philadelphia, earned a BFA in painting from Moore College of Art and Design in 1992, and works as a nurse. Her oil, acrylic and collage panels, including a beautiful day in the solar system (2020), draw on Peter Max, Renaissance altarpieces and the size of the universe. She aims to put viewers in “bizarre, reverent spaces” of stripes, flowers and color.

^{Clockwise from top left:
Howard Brunner “2002-13-11”
Lisa Baird “The Wedding Photographer”
Alex Bard “Your Best Table for Two”
Kellianne McCarthy “Waving Sunbeams in the Air”}

Archetypes and Streets in the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition

Alex Bard was born and works in Philadelphia and is best described as a magical realist, with a BFA from the University of the Arts and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work, which includes costume, sculpture, performance and film, is held by the Pennsylvania National Guard Museum and the Episcopal Cathedral. He shows Exhale (2026) and draws on mythology, anthropology and psychology.

Howard Brunner was born in Allentown and taught photography at the Art Institute of Philadelphia for 31 years. His photographs are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Michener Museum and museums in Switzerland and Brazil. He photographs on city walks that he calls a “walking meditation,” and he lets the street supply its own aesthetic.

Ready-Mades in the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition

williamCromar was born in Richmond, Virginia, directs the Penn State Abington College MakerSpace and received a silver medal from the International Biennial of Architecture in Sofia. His project Prêt à Faire turns Duchamp’s ready-mades into 3D models. The piece on view is Model of Marcel Duchamp’s Why Not Sneeze, Rose Sélavy (2025). The project is independent, and it asks that every work be cited as a Model of Duchamp’s piece by williamCromar.

Jake Jacob was born in New Jersey and founded Collage Philadelphia in 2022. He has shown at the Susquehanna Art Museum, the Athenaeum and the Kyiv National Art Gallery, and his piece here is Be Kind to Yourself (2026). He works in the space between Dadaism and commercialism. His statement says the first kindness we owe is to ourselves, which is an odd thing to find in a Dada show, and a welcome one.

^{Left to right:
Jake Jacob “Be Kind to Yourself”
williamCromar “Model of Marcel Duchamp’s Why Not Sneeze, Rose”}

Pairing the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition With Duchamp at the PMA

The Philadelphia Museum of Art opened its Marcel Duchamp retrospective on October 10, and the show runs through January 31, 2027. Both exhibitions sit on the same boulevard, and they cover the same subject from opposite ends, one the original artist and the other his descendants. The museum’s own Duchamp exhibition gives the history, and our look at the museum’s 2026 season gives context.

That pairing makes the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition more than a side trip. See Duchamp first, then call ahead and visit six living artists who have taken his rules and used them for their own purposes. You will likely notice that the question has not gone quiet in a century.

Bring a Question to the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition

Nobody expects you to walk out with an answer to “Is this art?” Dada never wanted one. What the show offers is a room of people who have spent years with the question and still enjoy asking it, and an invitation to join them on the 27th with your own opinion in hand, because the best part of an exhibition like this is hearing someone disagree with you.

The reception for the Odds in the Absurd Exhibition is free, and InLiquid asks guests to RSVP. The galleries are in the South Tower of Park Towne Place.

Question everything.

About Post Author

Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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