Celebrating the vanguard of the art world, the uber-hip Outsider Art Fair, which wraps up this weekend, is a fine art event devoted solely to the alienated and avant garde.
Featuring works by artists with no formal instruction or connection to any established art scene, presented by 33 international dealers, the fair has become synonymous with cutting-edge expression.
“Outsider art is basically produced by people outside the mainstream of normal society: the autistic, mentally ill, deranged, perverted and criminal,” says Sandford Smith, the producer of the fair, which is now in its 11th year.
But we’re talking about way more than Rorschach-style scribblings by troubled souls. A carved monument made out of material found on a construction site by Nashville artist William Edmundson is expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000.
“There have been no new art movements in the last 10 years,” says Smith. “This is the only really exciting area of art.”
$15, today, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; tomorrow, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St., at Houston Street, (212) 977-7170, ext. 308, sanfordsmith.com.