NEW YORK, NY.- Outsider Art Fair, the only fair dedicated to self-taught art, art brut and outsider art, announced details for its 31st edition, taking place March 2-5, 2023 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan and featuring over 64 exhibitors from 28 cities in 8 countries, with 12 first-time exhibitors.

Since 1993, the Outsider Art Fair has championed self-taught artists from around the world. Returning dealers who have been with OAF since its inception include Aarne Anton / Nexus Singularity (New York), Cavin-Morris Gallery (New York), Fleisher/Ollman Gallery (Philadelphia), Carl Hammer Gallery (Chicago), Marion Harris (New York), and Ricco/Maresca Gallery (New York). Visitors can once again count on seeing works by the most acclaimed artists in the field, like Morton Bartlett, James Castle, Henry Darger, Thornton Dial, William Edmondson, Minnie Evans, Guo Fengyi, Bill Traylor, Martín Ramírez, Nellie Mae Rowe, Judith Scott, George Widener, and Joseph Yoakum. The fair has a longstanding history of working with the world’s top ateliers or “workshops” that serve artists with developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities, including Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (Chicago), ArTech Collective (The Bronx, NY), Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland), LAND Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Project Onward (Chicago), Pure Vision Arts (New York), and SAGE Studio (Austin).

Among this year’s fair highlights, Donald Ellis will present an early group of graphite and coloured pencil drawings by Inuit artist Parr (1893-1969), celebrated today for his unadulterated depictions of the hunt, animals and the human figure. First time exhibitor Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto) will also feature works by Inuit artists. SHRINE (New York) will showcase the work of Mary T. Smith (1904-1995) and David Butler (1898-1997), two exemplary figures in the Southern tradition of "yard shows," where Black artists decorated their properties to convey messages that could not be openly voiced; and first-time exhibitor Valley House (Dallas, TX), who will present a mini-retrospective of Texas self-taught artist Valton Tyler (1944-2017). 

For this year’s OAF Curated Space, the fair has joined forces with Grammy Award-winning music producer and supervisor, Randall Poster, who has co-founded The Birdsong Project, a collaboration with some of the world’s most respected musicians, artists, poets, and actors, to benefit the National Audubon Society. The project recently released For The Birds, an art-filled, 20-LP box set containing over 200 tracks of original music and bird-related poetry by composers and performers including Yoko Ono and Anohni, Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Beck, and Kamasi Washington, with avian-themed verse written by poets and read by actors and artists including Tilda Swinton and Robert Pattinson. Recently, The Birdsong Project presented an exhibition at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden that featured over 30 bird houses designed by a range of notable artists, architects, and designers, such as Tom Sachs, Nina Cooke John, Misha Kahn, and Suchi Reddy. Poster and fair owner Andrew Edlin, who have been friends since childhood, will co-curate an exhibition, We Are Birds, featuring dozens of works inspired by birdlife made by self-taught and contemporary artists, including, Greg Burak, William Edmondson, Minnie Evans, Tony Fitzpatrick, William Hawkins, Chris Johanson, Pam Lins, Eleanor Ray, Fred Tomaselli, and Bill Traylor. 

Another highlight of this year’s fair will be a special presentation of The Life and Death of Elvis Presley: A Suite by visionary American artist and architect Paul Laffoley. The series of eight complex paintings, completed in 1995, represents the artist’s interpretation of the distinct phases in the life of Elvis Presley, and is outfitted with a brass rod and a set of velvet drapes that can conceal or reveal the iconic musician’s image. 

Newly appointed fair director Sofía Lanusse remarked, “I’m excited to build upon the creative momentum generated by the fair and keep challenging the boundaries of the field, which OAF has become celebrated for.”

OAF Talks will feature two panel discussions, one on Minnie Evans moderated by MoMA associate curator Esther Adler, the other on Paul Laffoley organized by Douglas Walla, CEO of Marlborough Gallery, New York, and editor of The Essential Paul Laffoley: Works by the Boston Visionary Cell (University of Chicago Press, 2016). Further details to be announced.

This year’s Online Viewing Room (OVR) will be powered by Exhibit-E, a dedicated platform to discover and buy from galleries on a global scale and connect with art lovers and collectors.