The Outsider Art Fair | Maine Antique Digest

New York City

The Outsider Art Fair continues to mature, and its 32nd edition, held February 29 to March 3 in New York City, garnered the respect the fair has worked to achieve along with rave reviews.

Critics from national newspapers celebrated the art and the artists, claiming the relevance of the genre as it continues to move closer to the mainstream. Collectors, curators, and celebrities filled the aisles of the Metropolitan Pavilion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and sales were made consistently throughout the event.

Historically, Outsider art has been viewed as being on the fringe. Not so any longer. It can appeal to folk-art aficionados, or fans of Art Brut, or contemporary art connoisseurs, or those who are attracted to the fantastical and the whimsical. Or all the above. It transcends genres.

This year’s fair featured 65 international dealers. Several galleries brought their artists to meet and make art for visitors.

The exuberance is infectious; the energy, palpable. “It’s like family coming together,” declared Jason T. Busch, the Becky and Bob Alexander Director and CEO of the American Folk Art Museum, when M.A.D. spied him at the booth of Steven S. Powers.

Exhibitors included several of the original dealers, who offered works by the earliest Outsider artists—James Castle, Bill Traylor, Henry Darger, William Edmondson, Eugene von Bruenchenhein, Adolf Wölfli, William Hawkins, Clementine Hunter, and Nellie Mae Rowe. The fair celebrated the 50th anniversary of Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, California, with a booth curated by Tom di Maria, its director emeritus.

Wide Open Arts, New York City, the fair’s owner, together with Cultural Counsel, its public relations company, blanketed social media with posts and live feeds, and daily emails were sent to subscribers. An online viewing room was available throughout and after the run of the event. Buying a work of Outsider art is more expensive now, but perhaps that’s the price of being admitted into the club.

Further information is available at the website (www.outsiderartfair.com).

SAGE Studio & Gallery, Austin, Texas, had a stack of fashion magazines made of pipe cleaners by Montrel Beverly (b. 2003). Seen here is Vogue, priced at $650. SAGE Studio & Gallery is a nonprofit space that provides artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities the materials, space, and support to create art.

Gregory Horndeski (b. 1948) created Flutist in Woods in 2009. It was available from bG Gallery, Santa Monica, California, priced at $6000. The 35" x 29" acrylic on masonite is bordered with the musical notes and words from Georges Bizet’s aria “Habanera” from his 1875 opera Carmen.

Rooted by Pamela Smith, acrylic on masonite, 19½" x 31½", was priced at $3750 by Northern Daughters Gallery, which dedicated its booth to works by the artist. Smith is a self-taught artist from Bristol, Vermont, who concentrates on portraiture of women and their relations. Smith sources frames from antiques shops, said gallerist Sophie Pickens.

Jennifer Lauren Gallery, London, asked $4500 for this oil pencil on paper work by Kenta Ohuchi (b. 1984). “It takes him three months to make, and he goes over it every day.” Although he is nonverbal, Ohuchi makes a lot of noise while he’s creating, Lauren explained. The artist works at Kobosyu Studio, Tokyo.

M.A.D. spied Valerie Rousseau, Ph.D., the American Folk Art Museum’s curatorial chair for exhibitions and senior curator of self-taught art and Art Brut, among Mary T. Smith’s works at the booth of SHRINE, New York City. Smith (1904/05-1995), born in Mississippi, had severe hearing loss. She created an outdoor environment in her yard of found wood and metal pieces that she would then paint. SHRINE re-created an outdoor setting with the green turf. Prices ranged from $6500 to $22,000, said Scott Ogden of SHRINE.

Pure Vision Arts, New York City, showed a series by Eric Sadowsky (b. 1991) called “Criers.” Each portrait memorializes a friend, a family member, or a celebrity who has died or moved away, and each tear signifies their years alive. Digital prints were priced at $450 each. Works in colored markers on paper were priced from $600 to $700. The dog portrait seen here is Wishbone. A gallerist at Pure Vision Arts, which provides space for artists with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities, made an altar with pink tissue boxes that got lots of attention.

Pink Cowboy by John Holcomb of Topeka, Kansas, was $4250 from Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery, London. The artist “goes through newspaper archives and takes black-and-white photos and reinvigorates them in a contemporary way,” explained the gallerist. Holcomb concentrates on American pastoralism, she noted.

These two works by Janet Sobel (1893-1968) were available from Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphia. The untitled work on the top, circa 1944, mixed media on panel, 17¾" x 13¼", was priced at $90,000. The other untitled work, mixed media on canvasboard, circa 1945, 20" x 16", was priced at $125,000.

Whimsey or patience bottles by Steve Moseley (b. 1964) were displayed by Lindsay Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. A Walk in the Park was priced at $950.

Vision of the Heaven Road, 1982, by Howard Finster (1916-2001), 18" x 24", paint and glitter on wood, was priced at $6500 by Lindsay Gallery. Red dots were seen throughout the booth.

Domenico Zindato (b. 1966) used Flashe, acrylic, and ink to create A Majestic Metamorphosis / Kiss of the Species / Dance of the Transparent Sphere in 2023. The 15¾" x 11¾" work on canvas was priced at $7500 by Andrew Edlin Gallery.

Sanctuary, 18" x 24", was painted in 2023 by Allie Gattor (b. 1994). The work in pen, pencil, ink, and colored pencil was shown by Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, Montreal, Quebec, tagged $1700.

A collage by Tony Fitzpatrick (b. 1958), Psalm to a Blood Eagle, 2023, 18" x 18", was shown by original Outsider Art Fair exhibitor Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York City, priced at $22,000.

Hirschl & Adler Modern has been showing works by Jeanne Brousseau (b. 1952) at the Outsider Art Fair for the last few years. Seen at left is an untitled work (Engagement), 2023, ink and colored marker on paper, 11" x 14", priced at $4500. Brousseau creates troll-like polymer clay figures and makes a sleeping bag for each one. They were priced at $225 each.

This portrait of a woman, artist unknown, 1830-40, New England, was available from Nexus Singularity. Aarne Anton asked $4000 for it.

Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto, Canada, showed these two ceramic works by Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, a multi-disciplinary Inuit artist who lives in Ottawa. On the left, ILAKKA II, 2023, clay, underglaze, and glaze, 5" x 8" x 8", was priced at $2220. ILAKKA I, 2023, 12" x 8" x 8", was tagged $2960.

Jewel of the Sea, 2022, by Ray Materson (b. 1954), of sock threads, 1¾" x 2", was priced at $12,000 by Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York City.