The Outsider Art Fair, the only event devoted to self-taught, art brut, and outsider art, begins today and runs from March 2–5, 2023, at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan.
Randall Poster, a Grammy Award-winning music producer and supervisor, and fair owner Andrew Edlin, who have been friends since childhood, co-curated this year’s OAF Curated Space: We Are Birds. The exhibition features works inspired by birdlife created by over forty self-taught and contemporary artists in support of The National Audubon Society, in collaboration with The Birdsong Project, a collaboration with some of the world’s most respected musicians, artists, poets, and actors to support and raise awareness of bird conservation.
For The Birds is a 20-LP box set that includes over 200 tracks of original music and bird-related poetry by composers and performers such as Yoko Ono and Anohni, Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Beck, and Kamasi Washington, as well as avian-themed verse written by poets and read by actors and artists such as Tilda Swinton and Robert Pattinson. At the fair, a limited quantity of box sets are available for purchase.
We Are Birds artist list
Vahakn Arslanian, Shuvinai Ashoona, Romare Bearden, Pearl Blauvelt, Ilija Bašičević, Beverly Buchanan, Greg Burak, James Castle, Jacqueline Cedar, Kashinath Chawan, Thedra Cullar Ledford, Joseph Dupré, Paul Edlin, William Edmondson, Peter Eglinton, Minnie Evans, Tony Fitzpatrick, Walton Ford, Gary Goldhill, Daniel Gonçalves, Susan Halls, Karel Havlicek, William Hawkins, Pam Lins, Andy Malone, Margaret Meehan, Stanley Mouse, Michel Nedjar, Carolyn Oberst, Paa Joe, Madelaine Peckenpaugh, Kananginak Pootoogook, Eleanor Ray, Zack Rosen, Mark Sabin, Hans Schmitt, Jon Serl, Marilyn Shaw, Janet Sobel, Olga Spiegel, Fred Tomaselli, Bill Traylor, John Tweddle, Eugene von Bruenchenhein and Domenico Zindato.
OAF Talks hosted two panel discussions at the Americas Society on Monday evening, February 27th, as part of this year’s fair programming. The first discussion, hosted by Esther Adler, Curator of Drawings and Prints at MoMA, focused on the life and work of artist Minnie Evans (1892-1987), with contributions from Nathan Kernan, Elizabeth Penton, and Wayne Evans. At the second panel discussion, writer, curator, and editor Edward M. Gómez and co-curator of Bispo do Rosario: All Existing Materials on Earth Javier Téllez examined Bispo do Rosario’s work.
This year’s Online Viewing Room (OVR) is now available, with individual presentations of available works from each exhibitor, as well as supplementary editorial content.
About the Outsider Art Fair
Founded in New York in 1993, the Outsider Art Fair is the original art fair concentrating specifically on self-taught art, presenting works by acknowledged masters such Henry Darger, Bill Traylor and Aloïse Corbaz, as well as living artists like George Widener, Susan Te Kahurangi King, Dan Miller, Shinichi Sawada and Luboš Plný. Quickly recognized for its maverick spirit, OAF has played a vital role in nurturing a passionate collecting community and broader recognition for outsider art in the contemporary art arena.
In 2012, Wide Open Arts, a company founded by gallerist Andrew Edlin, acquired the fair. Propelled by its immediate success in New York, a Paris edition was inaugurated in October 2013, helping to reinvigorate that city’s long tradition in the art brut field.
The Metropolitan Pavilion
125 W 18th Street
New York, New York 10011
United States
