(New York City, NY – December 13, 2022) – Outsider Art Fair, the only fair dedicated to self-taught art, art brut and outsider art, is pleased to announce details for its 31st edition, taking place March 2-5, 2023 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan and featuring 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 support The National Audubon Society. 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, Minnie Evans, Tony Fitzpatrick, William Hawkins, Chris Johanson, Pam Lins, Eleanor Ray, Fred Tomaselli, and Bill Traylor. 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 Botanical Garden that featured over 30 birdhouses designed by a range of notable artists, architects, and designers, such as Tom Sachs, Nina Cooke John, Misha Kahn, and Suchi Reddy.

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.

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 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.

Exhibitor List:

Aarne Anton / Nexus Singularity (New York, NY) Bill Arning Exhibitions (Houston, TX)

Art Sales & Research (New York, NY) ArTech Collective (Bronx, NY)

Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (Chicago, IL) James Barron Art (Kent, CT)

bG Gallery (Santa Monica, CA)

Norman Brosterman (New York, NY) Cavin-Morris Gallery (New York, NY)

Center for Creative Works (Wynnewood, PA)

Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland, CA) Creativity Explored (San Francisco, CA) SARAHCROWN (New York, NY)

Daniel / Oliver (Brooklyn, NY) Alexander Dijulio (New York, NY)

Dutton (New York, NY)

Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York, NY) Donald Ellis (New York, NY)

Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto, CA) Fleisher/Ollman Gallery (Philadelphia, PA) Forest Grove Preserve, Inc. (Sandersville, GA) Fountain House Gallery (New York, NY)

Emilia Galatis Projects (South Fremantle, AU) Carl Hammer Gallery (Chicago, IL)

Marion Harris (New York, NY) Hill Gallery (Birmingham, MI) Hirschl & Adler (New York, NY)

Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery (London, UK) Kishka Gallery (White River Junction, VT) koelsch gallery (Houston, TX)

Yukiko Koide Presents (Tokyo, Japan)

Kopac Committee Association/ArtRencontre (Pula, CR/Paris,FR) Kunstraum (Nuremberg, GR)

LAND Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Jennifer Lauren Gallery (Manchester, UK)                               

Galerie Pol Lemétais (Saint Sever du Moustier, FR) Lindsay Gallery (Columbus, OH)

Joshua Lowenfels (New York, NY) Magic Markings (Brooklyn, NY) Mason Fine Art (Atlanta, GA)

New Discretions (New York, NY)

Nonprofessional Experiments (Milanville, PA)

North Pole Studio / Booklyn (Portland, OR / Brooklyn, NY) The Pardee Collection (Iowa City, IA)

Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art (Milwaukee, WI) Steven S. Powers (New York, NY)

Project Onward (Chicago, IL) Pure Vision Arts (New York, NY)

Revival Arts (New York, NY)

Ricco/Maresca (New York, NY) SAGE Studio (Austin, TX)

Shelter Gallery (New York, NY) SHRINE (New York, NY)

Stellarhighway (Brooklyn, NY) Stewart Gallery (Boise, ID) The Valley (Taos, NM)

Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden (Dallas, TX) Winter Works on Paper (New York, NY)

ZQ (New York, NY) Zürcher Gallery (New York, NY)

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.