Owing to the still ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the Outsider Art Fair 2021 is being concurrently conducted, spread across four Manhattan galleries, one recording studio, and forty-five online viewing rooms, reported Will Heinrich of The New York Times.
At the Figure Out: Abstraction in Self-Taught Art exhibit, Judith Scott’s monolith; several ink drawings of the mythological Thunderbird by Eugene von Bruenchenhein; Mexican artist Maruch Méndez’s acrylics on canvas, Om, and Australian artist Tommy May’s work can be seen. The exhibit is hosted at the Andrew Edlin Gallery which is owned by the fair’s owner, Andrew Edlin. In conversation with Tess Thackara of The Art Newspaper, Edlin explained that the offline exhibitions offered a ‘low-cost opportunity for the participating galleries’.
The “Figure Out: Abstraction in Self-Taught Art” installation at the Andrew Edlin Gallery. Copyright image by Olya Vysotskaya via The Art Newspaper
At Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios, the artworks of Daniel Johnston: Psychedelic Drawings curated by Gary Panter can be viewed. Since Johnston’s death in 2019, this is the first and largest ever show of the rockstar’s visual art, reported Heinrich.
View of the “Daniel Johnston: Psychedelic Drawings” installation at the Electric Lady Studios. Copyright image by Olya Vysotskaya via artnet News
The Semiotic Terrain: Art From Australia and New Zealand exhibit at Salon 94 Freemans features art from artists of Australia and New Zealand including Alan Constable’s “chunky clay cameras” and Julian Martin’s vivid biomorphic pastels. Other artists featured as part of the exhibit are Susan Te Kahurangi, Mantua Nangala, Yukultji Napangati, and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri.
An earthenware piece by Alan Constable from 2018. Copyright image by Dutton via The New York Times
The Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning exhibit curated by Scott Ogden at Shin Gallery is a “Black vernacular art roundup” with a photo collage by Thornton Dial, a pair of quilts by Annie Mae Young and Allie Pettway of the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers. This exhibit also features textured scarecrows by Hawkins Bolden.
The “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” exhibit at the Shin Gallery. Copyright image by Olya Vysotskaya via artnet News
At the Hirschl & Adler Gallery, two acrylics on canvas nudes by Vera Girivi are part of the To Be Human: The Figure in Self-Taught Art. Other exhibits in the collection include a gouache of an insect garden by Janet Sobel, sculptures by Bolden, an early-1970s painting by Purvis Young, and a large black-and-white photo by Morton Bartlett. According to Tom Parker, associate director of the Hirschl & Adler Gallery that even though this year’s fair is “gallery-centric”, it still has the “communal feeling of an art fair”, reported Thackara.
“Untitled” by Vera Girivi, part of the “To Be Human: The Figure in Self-Taught Art”. Copyright image by James Barron Art via The New York Times
The Outsider Art Fair began on January 28 and will be held until February 7.
Featued Image Via Pexels
