Romy Owens and Paul Mays didn’t plan on having their new exhibit, “31 Flavors,” focus on ice cream, but it was kind of meant to be.
The Oklahoma City artists had brainstormed over the past year to come up with an idea for a collaborative collection. They knew they wanted their pieces to be relatively small and cheap, because they knew money would be tight around the holiday season.
Mays had purchased a bunch of small frames on clearance at Target. In fact, he bought all the store had, which turned out to be 31. Naturally, Baskin-Robbins came to mind.
“When you have 31 frames, how do you not absolutely embrace this idea?” Owens said.
Priced at under $100, each of the 31 paper collages is based on one of the original 31 flavors of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. The works include “French Vanilla,” “Maple Nut,” “Rocky Road,” “Egg Nog” and “Burgundy Cherry.”
Owens said her favorite piece is “Chocolate Mint” (pictured) because it is mod-looking and stylized.
“They’re very small, colorful pieces,” Owens said. “So the one called ‘Butterscotch Ribbon’ kind of has that color scheme of what you might think Butterscotch Ribbon might be, but none of them look like ice cream.”
“31 Flavors” remains on display all this month at a.k.a. Gallery, 3001 Paseo. For more information, call 606-2522 or visit akagallery.net. —Carmen Forman
