The Outsider Art Fair has announced the 64 exhibitors that will partake in its upcoming New York edition, slated to run March 2–5, 2023, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan.
Among the galleries taking part are stalwarts in the field of representing and supporting the work of self-taught artists, like Cavin-Morris Gallery of New York, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery of Philadelphia, Carl Hammer Gallery of Chicago, and Ricco/Maresca Gallery of New York. There will be 12 first-time exhibitors at the fair, including Feheley Fine Arts of Toronto, Kishka Gallery of Vermont, and Emilia Galatis Projects of Australia.
Courtesy Wide Open Arts
The fair will also continue to include a significant number of booths dedicated to workshops and ateliers who work with artists who have with developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities. Among those are Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (Chicago), ArTech Collective (The Bronx, New York), Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland), LAND Gallery (Brooklyn, New York), Project Onward (Chicago), Pure Vision Arts (New York), and SAGE Studio (Austin).
Andrew Edlin, the fair’s owner, said he expects this year’s edition to continue what people have come to expect from the Outsider Art Fair, which is now in its 31st year. “It doesn’t look like a commodities exchange,” he said. “People are always discovering things, finding something unexpected. Part of that is these dealers never got into it because they saw dollar signs. They just are passionate about the work, and we’re in some ways the only game in town.”
The fair also announced that Sofía Lanusse has been appointed as the director of the New York fair; she was previously director of the Outsider Art Fair’s Paris edition.
“The fair has done a great job in terms of presenting self-taught, folk, naïve, and outsider art already, so my goal will be continuing to give all these terms a space to show the value of this work and these artists within the contemporary art world and the whole world,” Lanusse said in an interview.
Courtesy Ricco/Maresca, New York
This year’s OAF Curated Space will be organized by Randall Poster, the Grammy Award–winning music producer and supervisor known for his close association with Wes Anderson, as well as his work on Skyfall, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Irishman, among other projects. The collaboration with Poster is also a deeply personal one as he is a childhood friend of Edlin’s.
Poster’s section, titled “We Are Birds,” will feature a mix of work by contemporary and self-taught artists, all of whom feature bird imagery in their work. Selected artists include Fred Tomaselli, Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, Minnie Evans, and William Hawkins. The section is a nod to the collaborative project that Poster founded during the pandemic called The Birdsong Project to benefit the National Audubon Society; it recently released a 20-L.P. box set filled with art and over 200 original music compositions and poetry.
“There’s certainly no shortage of artists working with bird imagery,” Edlin said. “We’re always trying to expand our horizons for our audience, from the contemporary art world to people from the music and entertainment spheres, as well as the Audubon Society’s tremendous group of supporters.”
Courtesy Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati
Additionally, a special presentation will be dedicated to a series of eight paintings by artist and architect Paul Laffoley, titled “The Life and Death of Elvis Presley: A Suite” (1995). The artist’s life and work will also be the subject of a talk during the fair’s run.
“His work is so revered—there’s something very mysterious and inscrutable about it,” Edlin said of Laffoley. “The work has a visceral effect on us. It draws us in with its power. He’s crossed all boundaries of the art world.”
As with past editions, Edlin said he anticipates the fair to showcase just how important self-taught and outsider artists have been to art history.
“We’re continuing to push the boundaries,” he said. “We’re proud to illustrate the powerful influence that this genre of art has on the mainstream art world. It took a devoted culture of enthusiasts that do the fair to establish a market for these artists in the first place. I think those boundaries and definitions between the mainstream art world and outsider art are continuing to gray.”
The full exhibitor list follows below.
Aarne Anton / Nexus Singularity (New York, NY)
Bill Arning Exhibitions (Houston, TX)
Art Sales & Research (New York, NY)
ArTech Collective (Bronx, NY)
Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (Chicago, IL)
James Barron (Kent, CT)
bG (Santa Monica, CA)
Norman Brosterman (New York, NY)
Cavin-Morris Gallery (New York, NY)
Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland, CA)
Creativity Explored (San Francisco, CA)
Sarah Crown (New York, NY)
Daniel/Oliver (Brooklyn, NY)
Alexander Dijulio (New York, NY)
Dutton (New York, NY)
Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York, NY)
Donald Ellis (New York, NY)
Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto, Canada)
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery (Philadelphia, PA)
Forest Grove Preserve, Inc. (Sandersville, GA)
Fountain House Gallery (New York, NY)
Emilia Galatis Projects (Australia)
Carl Hammer (Chicago, IL)
Marion Harris (New York, NY)
Hill Gallery (Birmingham, MI)
Hirschl & Adler (New York, NY)
Kishka Gallery (White River Junction, VT)
koelsch gallery (Houston, TX)
Yukiko Koide Presents (Tokyo, Japan)
Slavko Kopač Association (Pula, Croatia)
Kunstraum (Nuremberg, Germany)
LAND Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)
Jennifer Lauren Gallery (Manchester, UK)
Pol Lemétais (Saint Sever du Moustier, France)
Lindsay Gallery (Columbus, OH)
Joshua Lowenfels (New York, NY)
Magic Markings (Brooklyn, NY)
Mason Fine Arts (Atlanta, GA)
New Discretions (New York, NY)
North Pole Studio/ Booklyn (Portland, OR)
The Pardee Collection (Iowa City, IA)
Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (Milwaukee, WI)
Steven S. Powers (New York, NY)
Project Onward (Chicago, IL)
Pure Vision Arts (New York, NY)
Ricco/Maresca (New York, NY)
SAGE Studio (Austin, TX)
Shelter (New York, NY)
SHRINE (New York, NY)
The Silo (Milanville, PA)
Stellarhighway (Brooklyn, NY)
Stewart Gallery (Boise, ID)
The Valley (Taos, NM)
Valley House (Dallas, TX)
Winter Works on Paper (New York, NY)
ZQ (New York, NY)
Zurcher Gallery (New York, NY)