NEW YORK, NY.- Thursday night, the Outsider Art Fair––the only fair dedicated to self-taught art, art brut and outsider art––hosted a VIP Preview in celebration of its 31st edition. On view from March 2-5, 2023 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan, the fair features over 65 exhibitors from 28 cities representing 8 countries, with 12 first-time exhibitors. Since 1993, the fair has amassed a diehard following in large part due to the urgency of the work on display, which are uninfluenced by “the conventions of classical or fashionable art,” as Jean Dubuffet described in his 1947 art brut manifesto. Thirty years later, the fair continues to embrace the inclusive, nonconforming, and “renegade” spirit in which it was founded.

Notable Guests: Robert De Niro (Actor), Claire Danes & Hugh Dancy (Actors), Jack Antonoff (Musician), Margaret Qualley (Actor), Randall Poster (Music Producer), Josh Safdie (Filmmaker), Diane Lane (Actor), Nev Schulman (TV Host), Harvey Fierstien (Actor), JR (Artist), Iván Argote (Artist), Monty Blanchard & Leslie Tcheyan (Collectors), Joe Coleman (Artist), Elizabeth Dee (Gallerist), Rebecca & Martin Eisenberg (Collectors), Bob Greenberg (Collector), Matthew Higgs (Director, White Columns), Max Hollein (Director, The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Marcus Jahmal (Artist), Raynald Leconte (Filmmaker), Adam Lindemann (Gallerist), Carlo McCormick (Curator), Sheldon Bonovitz (Collector), Tommy Ralph Pace (Director, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art), Eve Therond (Art Advisor), Fred Tomaselli (Artist), Jerry Saltz (Art Critic), and Dustin Yellin (Artist).

This year, the fair has joined forces with Grammy Award-winning music producer and supervisor Randall Poster, co-founder of The Birdsong Project, a collaboration with over 220 of the world’s most respected musicians, artists, poets, and actors from Nick Cave to Laurie Anderson, to support and heighten awareness of bird conservation. Poster and fair owner Andrew Edlin, who have been friends since childhood, have co-curated, We Are Birds––an exhibition in support of The National Audubon Society featuring dozens of works inspired by the vast diversity of birdlife made by self-taught and contemporary artists including Greg Burak, Beverly Buchanan, 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 is 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 is shown publicly for the first time at the fair since their completion in 1995. Each painting represents the artist’s interpretation of the eight 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.

Fair Owner, Andrew Edlin, commented, “The energy is tremendous this year. It’s great to see people in person again, and the business is strong. We’re thrilled to open our doors with a strong turnout from the city’s top collectors, curators, and arts patrons, and look forward to an exciting weekend.”