Outsider Art Fair New York 2020

Founded in New York in 1993, the Outsider Art Fair exhibits works created solely by artists trained outside of the usual MFA scene. It’s the only art fair featuring dealers who were the first to exhibit works by artists like Bill Traylor, James Castle, Judith Scott, Thornton Dial, Joseph Yoakum, Henry Darger, Martín Ramírez and Anna Zemánková. While these artists are now being exhibited in some of the largest museums and galleries in the world, their art has been championed by these pioneering exhibitors for decades.

OAF dealers are experts on self-taught and outsider art. They are on the front lines discovering and introducing work by artists who may  follow the same trajectory as those who have become world-renowned.While these dealers appreciate all kinds of art, OAF makes a distinction between works mainly informed by other art and art history from those made by self-taught artists without academic backgrounds. Coined in 1972 by British scholar Roger Cardinal, outsider art, this fair was founded 28 years ago. Other terms like self-taught, art brut, vernacular or visionary all have their place, but outsider art is prefered because an overwhelming majority of people recognize the term and understand what it implies.

Outsider art is a fascinating, distinct genre, with a rich history and a community of scholars, galleries, and museums devoted to the discovery, study, and exhibition of art created outside the parameters of academic art history. The field also has its own periodical, the award-winning Raw Vision Magazine, which has been publishing since 1989. The American Folk Art Museum (New York), The Collection de l’Art Brut (Lausanne), The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Wisconsin), The American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore), Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art (Chicago), The Smithsonian American Art Museum (Wash DC), the High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Bennington Museum of Art (Vermont), Halle Saint Pierre (Paris), Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (Lille, France), and Outsider Art Museum (Amsterdam) are among the leading institutions which focus on works by such outsider artists.

For more info visit: www.outsiderartfair.com or email info@outsiderartfair.com