The 16th Annual New York City Outsider Art Fair
It’s Outsider Art Fair time again, and the Puck Building will be swarming with buyers, tourists, and other curious folk today through Sunday, January 27. This year there are 34 galleries exhibiting work by artists who are on the fringes of society and have no formal artistic training.
Having attended twice before, I recommend this fair if just to see what types of art and artists have been swept under the umbrella of “outsider art,” a catch-all phrase that has come to include folk art as well as art created by “outsiders”, i.e. the incarcerated, mentally ill, or mentally handicapped.
Henry Darger has emerged as one of the bigger names in outsider art, and like many other artists in the genre has a backstory that adds to the intrigue of his work. Two years ago, I noticed the work of George Widener, an autistic savant whose art incorporates his fascination with calendars and ability to calculate the day of the week given any date and year. A. G. Rizzoli was trained as an draftsman and his stunning pieces include a series of portraits of his mother as a grand, fantastical cathedral.
In between these striking images are works that make one think twice: Are they truly notable or is the artist’s background the key to his fame? A piece becomes much more interesting when you know it was painstakingly constructed by an imprisoned man or a woman who has a severe disability, and all the more attractive to galleries that trade in outsider art. The Outsider Art Fair is an opportunity to see a wide range of talent, separate the wheat from the chaff, attempt to see through the eyes of the artists, and enjoy a cold January day.
For more information: http://www.sanfordsmith.com/outsider_info.html
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