Every two years NYC’s January chill melts a bit when the Outsider Art Fair opens its doors. Since its first incarnation 28 years ago, in the Puck Building under the guidance of Sandford Smith, the event has furthered the dialog on what Outsider Art is. Back in the day it was pretty much restricted to European ideas bent on celebrating Art Brut, tamed a bit by American Folk Art. When the fair was acquired by Andrew Edlin’s Wide Open Arts, in 2012, the dialog has heated up, and true to its name, widened the platform to further re-define what it means to be self-taught, outsider, and unknown—not without controversy, which makes for plenty of discussion. Above: Sal Salandra, Lucifer's Gift--the Apple, 2019; courtesy Norman Brosterman.

Among the highlights this year is a wall of “Cinderella,” or bogus, postage stamps from around the world, organized by Laura Steward, at Booth C-12; Relishing the Raw: Contemporary artists Collecting Outsider Art, including works owned by Polly Apfelbaum, Maurizio Cattelan, John Drury, Nicole Eisenman, Jenny Holzer, KAWS, Chris Martin, Nicolas Party, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, James Siena, Laurie Simmons, Terry Winters and others; and a showing of art from the Children’s Museum of the Arts Kuniyoshi Collection that was created by young artists as part of the Work Progress Administration, in 1935. 

The Outsider Art Fair runs from Thursday, January 16 to Sunday, January 19 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18^th Street, NY, NY Info

In addition to the fair itself, a number of public programs will be held at the Ace Hotel, including Frederick Weston: Blue Bedroom Blues, an installation in the Ace Hotel Gallery; On Point: Pencils from the Harley J. Spiller Collection, in the Ace Hotel Lobby, 20 West 19^th Street, NY, NY Info

Alyson Vega, City Garden (detail), 2019; courtesy Fountain House Gallery; at the Outsider Art Fair

Talks / Book Events / Screenings / and Beyond

Thursday, January 16

Pieter Hugo | La Cucaracha, 6-8 pm. Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, NY, NY Info

Brian Rose | Atlantic City, slide talk and book signing, 6-8 pm. The Cooper Union, The Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square, NY, NY Info

Thursday, January 16- Sunday, January 19

Outsider Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion.  125 West 18^th Street, NY, NY Info

Saturday, January 18

Kay Turner and Clarity Haynes | The Alter: Threshold for Representation and Activation, 2 pm. Denny Dimin Gallery, 39 Lispinard Street, NY, NY Info

Tuesday, January 21

Xiao Quan | In China: When it all began, artist talk, book signing, 6:30-8 pm. Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, NY, NY Info

Continuing through January 28

The 29^th New York Jewish Film Festival. Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center/Walter Reade Theater, 144 and 165 West 65^th Street, NY, NY Info

Dietmar Busse, Accidents in Paradise, 2019; courtesy of the artist and Fierman, NY; at the Outsider Art Fair

In Galleries / Lens-based Art

Thursday, January 16

Melissa McGill | Red Regatta: Riflessi, 6-8 pm. Totah, 183 Stanton Street, NY, NY Info

Stan Douglas | Doppelgänger, 6-8 pm. David Zwirner, 537 West 20^th Street, NY, NY Info

Art Shay | Troublemakers, 6-8:30 pm. Ilon Art Gallery, 204 West 123^rd Street, NY, NY Info

Friday, January 17

New York Meets Tbilisi | Defining Otherness, Part I, 6-8 pm. Assembly Room, 191 Henry Street, NY, NY Info

James Casebere | On the Water’s Edge. Sean Kelly Gallery, 475 Tenth Avenue, NY, NY Info

Ray Colmer | Doorfos, 6-8 pm. Lisson Gallery, 504 West 24^th Street, NY, NY Info

Lucas Samaras | Me Myself and…; Robert Irwin | Unlights, 6-8 pm. 540 West 25^th Street, NY, NY Info

The Legacy of Issel Suda (1940-2019) | Human Memory, 6-8 pm. Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, 24 East 64th Street, NY, NY Info

Wesley Anderegg, Politics; courtesy of Portrait Society Gallery; at the Outsider Art Fair

In Galleries

Thursday, January 16

Michael St. John | Democracy Portraits, 6-8 pm. Team (gallery, inc.), 83 Grand Street, NY, NY Info

Shirley Jaffee \ Cut in Square, 6-8 pm. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 11 Rivington Street, NY, NY Info

Mitchell Charbonneau | Gone in 60 Seconds; Michael St. John | Ashes/Ashes, 6-8 pm. Team (gallery, inc), 56 Eldridge Street, NY, NY Info

Kyle Thurman | Error erred, 6-8 pm. David Lewis, 88 Eldridge Street, NY, NY Info

Noah Davis | organized by Helen Molesworth, 6-8 pm. David Zwirner, 533 West 19^th Street, NY, NY Info

Juan Cortes | The View from Nowhere, 6-8 pm. Nohra Haime Gallery, 500 West 21^st Street, NY, NY Info

Xenia | Crossroads in Portrait Painting, 6-8 pm. Marianne Boesky Gallery, 507 West 24^th Strteet, NY, NY Info

Erwin Wurm | Yes Biological, 6-8 pm. Lehmann Maupin, 501 West 24th Street, NY, NY Info

Homebody | New prints 2020, 6-8 pm. International Print Center, 508 West 26^th Street, NY, NY Info

Andrew Lenaghan | Places Have Their Moments, 6-8 pm. George Adams Gallery, 525 West 26^th Street, NY, NY Info

Andrew Wyeth | Five Decades. Forum Gallery, 475 Park Avenue, NY, NY Info

In Practice | Total Disbelief; Rafael Domensch | Model to exhaust this place, 6-8 pm. Sculpture Center, 44-19 Purves Street, Brooklyn, NY Info

Sybil Archibald | A Fish Cannot Drown in Water, 6-7 pm. 

Clerestory Fine Art, 40 Church Street, Montclair, NJ Info

Friday, January 17

Federico Herrero | Volume, 6-8 pm. James Cohan, 291 Grand Street, NY, NY Info

Left: Laura Anne Walker, Behind Curtain # One, 2019; courtesy of Fountain House Gallery; at the Outsider Art Fair

Vernacular Woman | Morris Hirshfield, Martín Ramírez, Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, Louis Michel Eilshemius, Mary T. Smith, Helen Rae, and Renaldo Kuhler and more, 6:30-9 pm. Ricco/Maresca, 529 West 20^th Street, NY, NY Info

Abstraction | Hot and Cool, 6-8 pm. Danese/Corey, 511 West 22^nd Street, NY, NY Info

 “I open my eyes and see nyself…name”; The Private Life of Rag Dolls; Warren Lehrer: Books, Animation, Performance, Collaboration; Remembering Walter Hamady. 6-8 pm. Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street, NY, NY Info 

Fashion Illustration | The Visionaries, 6:30 pm. Society of Illustrators/Museum of Illustration, 128 East 63^rd Street, NY, NY Info

well, position | Claudia Valenti, Vivian Liddell, Craig Drennen, Brian Christopher Glaser, and Robin Mandel, 7-9 pm. Trestle Gallery/artist curated exhibition program, 850 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY Info

Saturday, January 18

Jerry Ma | A Chinatown Odyssey, 5-7 pm. Pearl River Mart Gallery, 395 Broadway, NY, NY Info

Shannon Cartier Lucy | Home is a crossword puzzle I can’t solve, 6-8 pm. Lubov, 5 East Broadway, NY, NY Info

Sunday, January 19

Returning to the Source | Winter Workspace artists, 1-4 pm. Wave Hill, 675 West 252^nd Street, Bronx, NY Info

 

 

In Museums

Friday, January 17

Irtena Haiduk | Remaster; Jan Kiefer | Skiing Snowman, 6-8 pm. Swiss Institute / Contemporary Art, 38 St. Marks Place, NY, NY Info

Continuing

Darren Bader | Fruit and Vegetable Salad. Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, NY, NY Info

Tuesday, January 22

Uncanny Effects | Robert Giard’s Currents of Connection. Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, 26 Wooster Street, NY, NY Info