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Outsider Art Fair Announces Citywide NYC Edition
05January
Events

Outsider Art Fair Announces Citywide NYC Edition

The Outsider Art Fair, the premier fair dedicated to showcasing self-taught art, art brut and outsider art from around the world, is pleased to announce its first-ever citywide edition of the fair, taking place January 28, 2021 – February 7, 2021, concentrated around several gallery districts in Manhattan.

Following the success of OAF's sister Paris fair this past October, which presented its first hybrid online and in-person edition, the 29th Outsider Art Fair New York will expand on this model, adopting a gallery-share system presented in addition to a robust Online Viewing Room. Host galleries will be paired with visiting galleries and work together to offer thematic exhibitions. Host galleries include Hirschl & Adler, Salon 94 Freemans, Shin Gallery and Andrew Edlin, with more locations to be announced.

This year's OAF Curated Space will be held at Electric Lady Studios, the renowned Greenwich Village recording Mecca founded by Jimi Hendrix in 1969, where a solo exhibition of drawings by outsider musician and artist Daniel Johnston (1961-2019) will be on display. The presentation will be curated by renowned American cartoonist, painter, designer and musician, Gary Panter.

"We see this as a unique opportunity to deliver something special for our exhibitors and diehard visitors who look forward to that OAF spot on their calendars every year," said fair owner, Andrew Edlin. "This  model also propelled us to reach out and bring new dealers into the fold, like Salon 94, a longtime advocate for self-taught artists. Together with many of our founding 1993 exhibitors, we will present some of the best the field has to offer."

Since its inception nearly twenty-eight years ago, the Outsider Art Fair has remained a hallmark event every winter. "The Outsider Art Fair is such a special event to see in person, and the intrepid spirit of the artists we champion inspires us to stay on course, dictating that we move forward in a new way," said fair Director, Nikki Iacovella. "People are hungry to see art in person, and we plan to deliver."

Last month, the eighth edition of the Outsider Art Fair Paris presented a special exhibition organized by former Pompidou curator Alison M. Gingeras at the Parisian auction house Hôtel Drouot. Entitled Sexual Personae, the exhibition featured over 100 artworks by 45 self-taught, outsider and art brut artists from across the world, all sourced from the fair's exhibitors. The hybrid Paris fair gained an online audience of over 10,000 visitors together with several thousand attendees at Hôtel Drouot. OAF continues its partnership with Artlogic, who will build dedicated Online Viewing Rooms for host and visiting galleries along with exhibitors who are not able to participate in the physical iteration of the New York fair.

By dispersing the fair across multiple venues, stretching its length over ten days, and controlling attendance at each space with the use of timed appointments, OAF will take all necessary health precautions, adhering to strict mask-wearing and other protocols for visitors and staff.

Outsider Art Fair New York:
January 28, 2021 – February 7, 2021
www.outsiderartfair.com

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. Soon recognized for its maverick spirit, OAF 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. After holding the fair for the first two years at Hôtel Le A, a boutique hotel near the Grand Palais, OAF Paris relocated in 2015 to Hôtel du Duc, a stately, nineteenth-century hôtel particulier in the Opéra district. In 2018, the fair expanded to its current venue, Atelier Richelieu, located in the 2nd arrondissement.