New York City
The 33rd iteration of the Outsider Art Fair said farewell to a couple of icons in the field while welcoming a few new players.
The original owner of the fair, Sanford L. “Sandy” Smith, who passed away last year, had sold the fair 13 years ago to Andrew Edlin of Wide Open Arts, New York City. Edlin’s eponymous gallery featured a tribute to Smith on the outside wall of its booth. Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, an original exhibitor and a yearly presence in a corner booth at the fair, announced that it would be closing on April 1 after 40 years and did not attend. It was a glaring absence, felt by many.
The usual energy pulsing through the event, however, during its four-day run (February 27 to March 2) at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street was evident. Sales were made. Visitors navigated the aisles with their colleagues, friends, spouses, dogs, and children, and smiles abounded. This art elicits not only smiles but sometimes shock and most times awe. The dealers and collectors have formed a community that “gives everyone a seat at the table,” remarked Jason T. Busch, the Becky and Bob Alexander Director and CEO at the American Folk Art Museum, New York City, when M.A.D. talked with him in front of the booth of newcomer Adam Oestreich of the FolkArtwork Collective, Des Moines, Iowa.
Said Busch: “This fair is accessible, not only to buy but to look. The art is visually arresting, and if you dig deeper, you learn the stories of the artists who were sidelined. This forum is a stage for them. There’s such a synergy, and this is a roundtable that creates this art world. There’s a love for the dealers who connect with the artists and bring them to New York. It’s unique!”
Nancy Josephson, bead artist extraordinaire, shows her mixed-media work in the booth of Duff Lindsay of Lindsay Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Her Honda, which she said she drives to the supermarket, was parked at the entrance to the Outsider Art Fair. It commanded lots of attention and was photographed and shared by visitors and passersby.
A side view of the beaded car, with a QR (quick response) code affixed to the driver’s side window to download information on the fair.
Indeed, that was evidenced by artist Nancy Josephson’s fully adorned Honda parked in front of the entrance to the fair that attracted thousands of photos.
Artist Bob Jones set up an easel on the sidewalk and painted a cityscape while visitors to the fair passed him as they entered and exited. He’s not an inside exhibitor but rather an outside one.
Further information is available at the show’s website (www.outsiderartfair.com).
Mona Lisa, acrylic on poster board, by Ike E. Morgan (b. 1958), available from Sage Studio, Austin, Texas, was priced at $1500. The work was created between 2010 and 2020. Sage’s directors, Lucy Gross and Katie Stahl, designed and drew the stencil frames in their booth, which is usually located up front at the fair. They are the welcoming committee, always upbeat and friendly. The studio and gallery are for artists with disabilities.
Works from the collection of Audrey B. Heckler were displayed in the two large booths of Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attracted visitors’ attention. Seen here is an untitled work (Feathered Train), circa 1953, by Martin Ramírez (1895-1963), graphite, tempera, and crayon on paper, 46" x 34", which sold. Heckler, who died in 2024, gifted “dozens of masterpieces by renowned self-taught artists of the 20th and 21st centuries” to the American Folk Art Museum, New York City, the museum announced just after the fair. The recent announcement noted that the gift was “the latest of many significant gifts—now totaling nearly 150 works of art—by Ms. Heckler between 2015 and 2022.”
American Gothic by Anthony Coleman (b. 1969), 2024, colored pencil on paper, was sold by Sage Studio within minutes of the fair’s opening.
These paint on wood figures by Charlie Willeto (1897-1964) were part of the Audrey B. Heckler collection and available from Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, priced at $8500 each. The three untitled works, (Figure with Feather, Post Figure with Geometric Markings, and Figure with Bow and Arrow), were created 1961-64.
Interact Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota, a visual arts studio and theater company, showed this glazed ceramic by Scott Sorensen (b. 1966). Interact Gallery asked $300 for the 2023 work, Untitled IV. Sorensen works without hesitation, sometimes finishing three forms in a day, the gallery wrote in his biography.
Man Holding Flag, artist unknown, paint on wood, no longer clothed because of material falling apart and with a replacement flag, was available from Arne Anton of Nexus Singularity, Pomona, New York, tagged $1250.
Works by Kevin House were displayed by Aarne Anton of Nexus Singularity. On the top is Rogue Mountain Turnaround, paint, markers, paper, wood, and envelope, 2024, priced at $1200.
New to the Outsider Art Fair this year was the FolkArtwork Collective, owned by Adam Oestreich, a high school art teacher from Des Moines, Iowa. He has sold works online the last three years. He and his father drove to New York to set up his booth, which his students had helped design. Seen here are works by Estéban Whiteside, a Washington, D.C.-based artist who “gets straight to the point.” Land of the Free, 2024, acrylic and wood mounted on wood, 14" x 14", was priced at $2000.
Housing Works, models by Ryder Henry (b. 1974), were available at the booth of Steven S. Powers and Joseph Lowenfels of New York City, priced at $1800 each. The cardboard, paper, and corduroy sculptures are based on “an obsessive scale of 1:213:333,” and Henry places many of them in a city he has built in his home. In the artist’s paintings he adds life, which is absent from the model city.
Pinkie Maclure is a self-taught award-winning Scottish artist specializing in stained glass. Seen here is The River, 25" x 24", which was shown by Marion Harris of Connecticut and New York City. The dealer, one of the original exhibitors at the fair, asked $9500 for it.
Steve Powers interacts with visitors in his booth.
Under the Bridge, acrylic, collage, and vintage window, 19" x 32", by Sally Bennett was priced at $4800 by Koelsch Gallery, Houston, Texas.
Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been bringing works by Della Wells to the Outsider Art Fair for the last several years. The artist’s work has been well received, and prices have increased. Seen on the wall is a quilt collaboration between Della Wells and Anne Marie Grgich with Sandy Jo Combes, titled Remember Sister, We Sisters Are Married to Truth and Freedom, Not Married to Fear and Lies, mixed fabrics, American flag, and found materials, 112" x 52". It sold within the first hour of the preview to someone affiliated with a museum in the Midwest, said a gallerist.
James Barron Art, Kent, Connecticut, sold this egg tempera on gessoed panel by Mike Ousley (b. 1976), Black Star Coal Camp: Alva, KY, 2025, as well as several other works by the artist. Prices ranged from $1200 to $6000. “We wanted to share his works with a wider audience, and most everything sold,” said James Barron when reached after the fair.
Sarah Crown of New York City asked $2600 for Kona Sunset, 2024, by David Syre. The acrylic, ink pen, and paint pen on canvas work is 24" x 20".
Bob Jones was painting outside the Outsider Art Fair. He was in the same spot last year.
Originally published in the May 2025 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2025 Maine Antique Digest
